Greek City-States

An integrated unit that gives students a lens into a unique

past.By Christopher Vanderhorst and Russell Marzullo

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Table of Contents

Unit Overview and Rationale………………………………………..4

Unit Curriculum Map………………………………………………..7

Two-Week Calendar of Events………………………………………8

Pre-Assessments……………………………………………………..16

Fully Developed Lesson Plans……………………………………….19

The Amazing Greek Race…………………………………….. 19

The Different Types of Maps: An inquiry lesson……………...27

Pericles and the City……………………………………………35

Creation Myths: The start of geography……………………….47

Post-Assessments ……………………………………………………65

-Rubric for Map Making Project………………………………….. 69

Past Content Connections……………………………………………70

Statement of Technology…………………………………………….72

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Statement of Integration……………………………………………..74

Application of Standards with Regard to Ohio Education…………76

Bibliography………………………………………………………..86

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Unit Overview and Rationale for Greek City-States

Greece has always served as a milestone for Western Civilizations. Our philosophies, art,

architecture, and so much more have all been influenced by this great empire. It is with great

pride that we will be making Greek City-States the focus of our integrated unit. We will use a

lens of current time to view the past and we will decorate our unit with Greek City-States’

history, cultures, geographies, and literature shall be the core around our two week program. The

overarching goal of this unit is to instill greatness and competition within our classes, which will

be directed through group work while keeping the content inspiring and informative.

As students in our 6th grade classes enter an increasingly technological era, there is a

chance to become luddites when it comes to various forms of math, science, and communication.

Geography is one of these areas that students may not grasp its importance. Students can live

life using GPS services on their phone, without understanding how that information got to that

device. Indeed we live in a time where one can walk a street and not even know where they are

going, other than to follow an arrow on a small screen. The term Luddite is used here as it is a

dangerous precipice to walk when one is using tools that they do not comprehend how they

actually physically function. Students need to grasp the fundamentals of how not only a modern

location device works, but how these implements were evolved over time. We believe that as key

geographic concepts are attained such as: latitude and longitude, regions, and globe utilization,

there will be more connections, which have relevance, apparent to the student. Without the

teaching of these concepts there is certain to be a disconnect among the tools available to them

today as well as what they account for. The teaching of these concepts holds extreme ties to the

Ohio Revised Standards for social studies.

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The origins of geography came from the fact that people not only wanted to record where

resources can be found, but also how those resources came into being. World knowledge started

with mythical explanations for things that could not be theorized due to primitive levels of

science. Myths can be explored as foundations to greater understanding in terms cultural

characteristics of geographical movement of peoples and ideas. This can have an impact on how

concepts evolve and move, promoting discourse and understanding between contrasting cultures.

As we take a closer look at the language arts being integrated into this unit we recognized

that it was imperative to cover select key concepts that could gradually be built in overtime such

as: myths, cultural beliefs, and the ability to cite textual information, which are present in various

works. These key concepts and topics are widely stressed within the Common Core State

Standards for Language Arts.

The differences in these societies are evident in their stories. Students need to explore

these themes as they move on to more concrete aspects of geography as it relates to social

interaction between people. Looking at these stories in a comparative light will shed on the

differences in resources, values, and desires of a society. Geography is, like many other social

sciences, is based on finding answers to questions. These questions not only develop based on

actual locations of land, but of shifts in thoughts and customs over spans of time.

Students will begin by exploring geography in its infancy, were natural world phenomena is

explained in terms of myth. By focusing on these myths, students will be able to grasp the

historic routes of geography, leading up to its more modern role. The study of social interaction

can be seen in maps. Students can see the relationship to a society’s desires and technical

advancement based on the production of maps over various lengths of time.

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Transitioning from how societies in existence in antiquity learners will be confronted

with the questions based on current usefulness of maps, exploring their place in modern digital

society. Mathematics will be taught with use of ratios and other mechanics in relation to how

people chart the worlds they live in, and why it is still important to do so today.

Students need to be aware of the still functional relevance of studying geographical movement

of people and resources. Cartography and its scientific leaps helped find nations, feed and house

millions, and provided a cross cultural backdrop to revolutionize societies. Students should be

able to recognize characteristics of maps, their uses, and how to interpret them. Geographical

terms, relationships to actual and cultural regions can be used to create a more identifiably

landscape. Mathematics in relationship to these concepts shows not only the history but the

continued evolvement of this pertinent technology.

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Unit Curriculum MapMonday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

Week 1 The

Integrated Unit and You

Rates, Ratios, and Proportions: An Introduction to rates

Vocabulary Lesson: Using adjectives and descriptive words

Vocabulary List (ELA)

Exploring Maps

Identifying Rates and Ratios

Creation Myths: The beginning of geography

3 Facts Sheet (Math)

The Different Types of Maps (Inquiry Lesson

Writing Ratios in Different Ways

Creation Myth Workday

Cookin’ Up Rates and Ratios

The Nitty Gritty of Latitude and Longitude

Touring Ancient Lands and Sites

Exit Slip (SS)

Pericles and the City

When Will I Use this?

Practice With Maps

Journal (During free period)

Week 2

Speech Writing and Speaking

I Will Use This!

CartographersCreate Maps

Quick Quiz (Math)

Pericles and the City

Cartographers Create Maps

The Amazing Greek Race! (An integration of math and social studies)

Student Attitude Checklist (ELA)

Persuasive Writing

What is a Proportion?

Cartographers Create Maps

Open Note Quiz (SS)

Solving Proportions and review for Post-Assessment

Presentation of Creative Writings and Review

Cartographers Presentation Day

Journal (During free period)

Putting it All Together

Post-Assessment for ELA Concepts

Final Day Presentations for Geography

Gym Activity (just for fun)

Key: Red represents a social studies lesson, green shows a math lesson, yellow shows an ELA lesson, light blue represents an integrated lesson and purple is a type of formative assessment used that day.

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Two-Week Calendar of Events

Week 1:

Monday:

Rates, Ratios, and Proportions: An introduction to rates (Math):

At the beginning of the period, students will open their textbooks and students will be called on to read aloud the beginning section of rates. Students will know how to identify a rate and will be incorporating this knowledge to this various rates they can think of on the whiteboard. Students will then watch a KhanAcademy video to explore the basic concept of a rate and will proceed to work on basic examples of rates. The teacher will begin by modeling rate and ratio problems and specifically the characteristics of them. Students will have a unique assignment toward the end of class where they will have the opportunity to discuss what they want to see more of in the classroom for the next week. These suggestions will be taken into consideration and will be used to make the classroom a more welcoming place for learning.

The Integrated Unit and You (SS):

During this class’s lesson students will be grouped into their city-states with no more than 5 members per group. This social studies lesson will serve as the gateway of explaining the integrated unit, which has been titled “Get in Touch With Greek City-States.” The teacher will explain why what multiple content areas will be tying into their classrooms for the next two weeks and encourage students to demonstrate the strong work ethic that had been demonstrated by many a Greek people. In the lesson the students will also discuss their experience with geographic tools and will review the most previous summative assessment.

Vocabulary Lesson: Using adjectives and description

In this lesson students will examine synonyms of basic words in order to increase writing fluency, which will aid in the future works of the semester and unit. Students will be using geographical features and will explore words that express how those features look and function. Students will be given a list of the related vocab words for characteristics in general that will be filled out for use in writing activities over the course of the week.

Vocabulary List: During ELA students will begin filling in a vocabulary list that will be continuously checked until the next week. This formative assessment will allow teachers to walk around the room to decide whether or not students are actually filling in appropriate student made definitions.

Tuesday:

Identifying Rates and Ratios (Math)

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During this math lesson, students begin by defining rates and ratios in their math notes. Students will be expected to add to their math notes as the unit progresses. The main goal of today’s lesson is to identify what the difference is between a rate and a ratio. They will be given examples of various rates and ratios and will work alone for the first half of class to identify which questions show rates, ratios, or neither. The second half of class will permit students to work with a neighbor to explain their reasoning of which questions show rates, ratios, or neither. Throughout the class the teacher will be drawing sticks to ask students to put their answers on the board as others continue to work. The end of this class will supplemented with a quick exit slip to gauge the students’ learning progress.

Exploring Maps (SS):

During this introductory lesson, students will be looking at the most common map used today. The teacher will be emphasizing the different aspects of the map and students will take notes and must formulate questions during the lesson to ask at the end. Greece will be referenced in this lesson as cartography, or map making, was heavily believed to be invented by a Greek named Anaximander. Students will have the opportunity to see a variety of early Greek maps that depict the world in a different way. Toward the end of the lesson students will have chances to ask questions as well as share their observations about how maps have changed over the course of centuries.

Creation Myths: The beginning of geography

Students will be given a copy of D’Aulaires work as it pertains to the creation of the world according to Greeks during the age of antiquity. Teacher will explain major themes in world creation mythology Also, students will be given of a world myth and will be divided into their polis groups in order to read through the material. Students will then decode their creation myths based off the 5 major themes.

3 Facts, and a Question, Sheet: Toward the end of the Identifying Rates and Ratios math lesson students will be asked to write down 3 facts they have learned in relation to math concepts thus far as well as a specific question they need answered.

Wednesday:

Writing Ratios in Different Ways (Math):

At the beginning of this lesson students will participate in a “Minute Math” activity to incorporate previous knowledge into the lesson (fractions, multiplying decimals, basic number sense, etc. Later in the math lesson students will learn the various ways to write a ratio. The teacher will begin by modeling the various ways to write out ratios. Students will be expected to

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identify a scenario for each ratio. Prior knowledge will be tested when the teacher will ask for students to create equivalent ratios and will reflect knowledge of equivalent fractions.

The Different Types of Maps: An Inquiry Lesson (SS)

At the beginning of this lesson students will be engaged in an inquiry lesson that depicts a variety of maps that are used in the world today. The maps progress from being displayed on a document camera in an order that the students will not directly recognize. The maps being studied are economic, climate, physical, and political. Students will have the opportunity to discuss this topic in a group setting as well as in a whole-class discussion. After the inquiry lesson students will proceed to take notes from a PowerPoint over these maps and maps in general. Finally, students will complete an exit slip before dismissal.

Creation Myth Workday:

In this lesson, students will assemble their story with the aid of their descriptive language characteristics sheet. Students will also be given immediate teacher support/feedback of their story on an individual basis in which the student may present his/her ideas and work present.

Thursday:

Cooking up Rates and Ratios (Math):

During this lesson the class will explore the concepts of rate and ratio. The lesson will begin with a minute math activity, which is essentially a warm-up that includes 10 questions to review previous math procedures. The class will then begin to learn about rate and ratios basics with definitions, examples, and modeling. After the class has taken a look at the two concepts they will split into pairs and pick up a Kroger grocery bag. In this bag there will be two to three groups of items, and the teacher will model how to make a ratio from the objects in the bag (e.g 3 blue jolly ranchers and 4 red jolly ranchers could be written as 4:3 4 to 3 4/3, etc.) The pairs will place their answers on an activity sheet and pass their bag to the left at the sound of a “ding.” Each pair should get through all the bags and end with the bag they started with.

The Nitty Gritty of Latitude and Longitude

In this lesson students will be performing a read-aloud from their textbook that touches on the subject of latitude and longitude as well as describing the absolute position on maps. Students will be expected to participate in practicing using latitude and longitude to give exact location on a map. As the period progresses and students feel comfortable with these concepts the teacher will release the class into the task of using globes, and pre-printed maps to explore the various major locations in the world. Students will start working on the worksheet titled “Where am I?” using latitude and longitude to describe absolute location of a place. Toward the latter half of the period students will complete an exit slip over what they have learned in the previous two days.

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Touring Ancient Lands and Sites:

Using Webquest students will be able to explore and informally present findings on major cities in the eastern hemisphere. This will include four areas: language, history, location, and country. Students will write and verbally present their findings in pairs.

Exit Slip: Students will be asked to complete an exit slip in social studies that will focus on the previous two days’ lessons. This exit slip would be collected and handed back by the next day.

Friday:

When Will I Use This? (Math):

Every teacher has heard the student ask “When will I ever use this in the real-world?” Well, this math lesson is a way to express the various real-world applications for using rates and ratios in the real world. By real-world applications the lesson is structure over more than just vague examples, but with relevant and meaningful questions that can arise in any student’s life. First, students will be watching a great video explaining rates and ratios called Math Snacks: Ratey the Math Cat (it’s perrfffeect). Then students will be expected to complete a sheet that poses a variety of more complex rate and ratio questions.

Pericles and the City:

In this lesson the teacher will model reading Pericles to the class. The teacher will talk about proper highlighting strategies with basic examples. Students will then be given a variety of handouts and will begin highlighting textual evidence of Athenian life from the Pericles speech. Students will have opportunities to mark down their highlighted information as well as share in breakout and whole-class sessions.

Practice with Maps

So far in the unit students have worked with latitude and longitude, location (absolute), place, and regions. Now, the students will explore the various movements among items, ideas, and people within the Greek region. Comparisons will be made based off what they have previously learned about China’s influence in the movement of objects and the silk road. To reiterate, the students will be able to compare the two influential empires and attempt to formulate ideas of how objects are able to move. The movement of various items, people, etc., should be referenced with a virtual map that the teacher can click, drag, and zoom in and out of.

Journal: During the students’ free period a journal will be written, which asks students what major questions are arising in unit projects and how they plan on solving them. These can be specific issues or select content assignments that need to be resolved.

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Week 2:

Monday:

I Will Use This! (Math):

As a way of judging how well the students are learning knowledge a brief quiz will be implemented at the beginning of the period for formative assessment purposes. Students will then have the opportunity to put their creative minds to work by designing and illustrating their own real-world application questions of rates and ratios. Students will trade questions with other students to see if they are able to solve them. Afterward, the original creator will design a mini-poster that depicts the picture visually and will display it on the wall for fun.

Cartographers Create Maps:

During this hands on lesson, which will span over the course of three days, students will work on creating their own maps based off of their group’s Greek Polis. Now, students are not expected to make an entire map of the world, or even an entire map of Ancient Greece. Instead the students will put their creative minds to the test to make a representation of how they picture their own polis. Students must include some accurate characteristics of the city such as: architecture, training arenas, markets, etc. However, the main focus is that the student is able to construct geographic tools to help a third party navigate his/her city. This challenging project must be supplemented with a written description of the city that includes absolute and relative location descriptions, regions, items moving, etc.

Speech Writing and Speaking:

Throughout this lesson students will practice writing speeches based on their favorite geological feature. They will be able to follow a guided writing prompt provided by the teacher emphasizing the key elements of the speech writing process. Teacher will present his own piece of writing to serve as an example. Students will be able to share what they wrote about toward the end of the lesson.

Quick Quiz: During math class students will be asked to take a brief quiz covering the main ideas of rate and ratios. This quiz will only have a definition question for each concept, and a task to be solved for both rate and ratio.

Tuesday:

The Amazing Greek Race! (Math):

This lesson integrates the two content areas of math and social studies. Students will have an interesting activity, which is known as “The Amazing Greek Race,” which will begin by

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having members of the same polis pair up and search for 10 questions around the room. Each question is enclosed in a Ziploc bag and holds a question that will deal either with rates and ratios, globe utilization (as well as various geographic tools), and using latitude and longitude to identify location. Each question will test what the students have learned in conceptual as well as procedural knowledge. Students are able to ask the teachers questions during the activity. The winners of this activity will be determined by both accuracy and speed, so the group to get the most right and turned in the fastest will be deemed victorious. This activity will last for the entire period.

Pericles and the City:

This integrated lesson will allow students to access internet with the goal of exploring significant cultural and natural landmarks of the eastern hemisphere. They present their findings in a PowerPoint format to the class in 4-5 slides.

Cartographers Create Maps:

Students will continue to create their map with the assistance of the teacher. A model will be displayed along with questions for the students to consider when making their polis map. Students may interact with peers to give and receive advice about their maps.

Student Attitude Checklist: During ELA, students will be given a checklist that has a variety of questions asking about different tasks, and concepts related to the current material. Students will be asked to check off areas they want to spend more time on and rate every question on a scale of 1-5 with 1 being “I don’t know this” and 5 being “I know this.”

Wednesday:

What is a Proportion? (Math):

In this lesson students will spend the first half of class learning about what a proportion actually is and will define it. With this in mind students will add the word to their vocab card ring. Students will be watching a video from BrainPOP that depicts the basic concept of a proportion. The remainder of the lesson will be looking at common mistakes with setting up proportions as well as examples in which proportions were misused. Toward the end of the period students will be reminded of the upcoming test over rates, ratios, and proportions on Friday.

Cartographers Create Maps:

Students will have the majority of the period to continue working on their maps and supplemental written work. Toward the end of the lesson the students will take a short open-note quiz over what they have learned in the previous days. This quiz is to serve as a formative assessment for the students and the map creation project will serve as the summative assessment.

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Persuasive Writing:

Students will be able to pick a topic of their choosing and use it to compile a persuasive essay based on selling that idea as a positive concept. This subject matter will be approved by a teacher, giving aid to help students find relevant proof. Students will need to use suggestive vocabulary to pitch the product, idea, or concept in written form. These will be evaluated based on word use and whether they met the criteria in regards to this type of writing.

Open Note Quiz: This open note quiz will be asking a variety of questions about the history of cartography as well as terms associated with map making. They will be required to identify characteristics of different maps, and when they would be used.

Thursday:

Solving Proportions and Review for Post-Assessment (Math):

For the first half of this lesson, students will continue to practice setting up proportions and will begin to learn the process of solving them. However, they will not receive much instructional time on solving proportions as the second half of class is dedicated to reviewing for the following day’s test. Students will be given the general format of the test, which will serve as a post-assessment. Also, students will be given a few problems to practice from their textbooks in order to be prepared for the test itself. Questions may be informally asked by students and the teacher will model any questions during this time.

Cartographers Create Maps Presentation Day:

Students will present their maps to the class and will read off their written responses that will help describe locations, regions, etc. The presentation of these maps will span the entire class and may run into the Friday’s class if need be.

Journal: In this journal students will respond to a prompt that asks “What did I take from this 2 week unit?” “What did I like and what did I dislike?” This journal will be taken during the students free period of the day.

Friday:

Putting it All Together (Math)

During this period students will be asked to take a post-assessment, or a unit test, over rates, ratios, and proportions. This will serve as a summative assessment and will gauge students’ learning. The test will be set-up with definition type questions at the beginning, and will progressively move into rates and ratios. There will be both real-world application problems and simple tasks related, related to rates and ratios. Due to the fact that little instructional time was

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devoted to proportions, the test will only include a couple of proportion type questions at the end of the exam and students are only asked to set them up correctly. The second proportion question will be more difficult and will be worth extra-credit.

Final day for presentations for Geography:

On the final day of our integrated unit for social studies we will wrap up the remainder of our presentations. Students will have the time to discuss their feelings about the project itself and give the teacher(s) feedback about what could be improved in the project as well as what went well. At the end of the period students will be asked to take a very brief quiz that will serve as an ungraded post-assessment.

Gym Activity:

During this free period unit, students will engage in a shortened version of the Olympics. Events are not mandatory to participate in and are as follows: javelin (broom with a tennis ball), discus (Frisbee), the 400 meter run (one lap around the outdoor track), tug of war, etc. Students will receive homemade medals and all students that participate will be given drinks and snacks (labeled as Greek foods).

Pre-Assessment15

Every teacher knows that pre-assessment is crucial to helping a student learn new

material. Pre-assessments give teachers a point of reference of where each student is individually

as well as where he/she should begin a unit. The pre-assessment, when implemented correctly,

can allow students to learn more over the course of a unit especially if a particular aspect of the

pre-assessment was clearly known by all the students. So, it goes without saying that our

integrated unit contains a variety of pre-assessments, one for each individual content area.

All of our pre-assessments were quick and easy to implement, which allowed for them to

take only a small portion of the Friday before our unit began. One pre-assessment that would be

given highlighted what would be taught for the next two weeks in math. Because the math unit

was focused on rates, ratios, and proportions, we focused the pre-assessment on testing

definitions, as well as conceptual and procedural knowledge. The pre-assessment asked the

students to give definitions for the three terms (these would be scored as one point a piece) and

would proceed to ask 2 rate questions, 2 ratio questions, and finally 1 proportion question.

However, due to the fact that our unit was not aimed at extensively entering proportion solving

ability we had elected to set the proportion question at a minimal-moderate difficulty as that is

how it would be displayed in the post-assessment. The math pre-assessment ended up being

scored out of 14 points. Again definition questions were worth only one point where as all other

questions were set at 2 points each. On top of this formal pre-assessment test in math there will

be an informal discussion implemented after the formal pre-assessment has been given. We

decided to do this because not every student is good at taking tests. With this in mind the

discussion would focus on a variety of questions which students could write down whether or not

they felt comfortable with the question. A 1 would indicate that the student simply had no idea

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what the question was asking while a 5 would mean that the student had sufficient knowledge of

the discussion question and he/she could explain it to a peer.

Like the math pre-assessment, the social studies pre-assessment followed a similar

format, but was designed to test a student’s ability; to give directions from one place to another,

to accurately describe a location using latitude and longitude, to note what purpose a select type

of map served. This pre-assessment would be composed of 15 different questions that asked a

student to explain his or her choice after each answer. We decided to include an explanation

because some students are simply able to guess the correct question due to the multiple choice

format. 13 of the questions were labeled as multiple choice while 2 were short answer. The

multiple choice questions were 1 point each. If a student could not explain a correct answer then

half a point was deducted. On the contrary if a wrong answer was selected, but reasonable

rationale was given then a half point would be awarded for that question. The short answer

questions were 2 points each and required fully accurate responses. One of the questions dealt

with being able to explain a person selecting the correct directions to arrive to a particular

destination. The second short answer dealt with describing a location on a map and what tools

were missing for the student to describe the location. This pre-assessment may seem rather

difficult; however the students had prior knowledge of certain concepts, like place, in their 5th

grade social studies class and thus would have a general idea of related concepts.

As for the language arts pre-assessment we elected to follow the similar format of the

previous pre-assessments, so it would reflect a brief test with multiple choice questions, and

short answer. There will be 10 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions. These

questions will reflect the concepts/ideas that will be experienced during the integrated unit,

which are: comparing and contrasting and citing textual evidence. Now, the questions will be

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supplemented with short passages that would allow for comparisons to be made as well as for

practice citing textual evidence. A citing textual evidence question may read as follows “In the

passage listed prior, how did the dog find his way home?” “Please give your answer and list your

reasoning.” The pre-assessment for language arts will be scored out of 20 points. Multiple choice

are worth 1 point and short answer questions are worth 2 points each.

In summary, our pre-assessments will be implemented prior to any teaching within our

units and they will give the teachers a general idea of how quickly they can move through

specific tasks/areas. Also, it will tell the starting point that will best help our students learn.

Finally, the pre-assessments will be helpful for differentiating instruction based on content

knowledge for our students.

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Fully Developed Lesson Plans

The Amazing Greek Race Lesson Plan

BACKGROUND

Course: Mathematics and Social Studies        Date: 11/09/2014       

MCE Candidates: Christopher Vanderhorst and Russell Marzullo

School: Integrated Unit School   Grade Level: 6    Mentoring Teacher: Pythagoras

Title/ Source for this lesson: The Amazing Greek Race!

LESSON PLAN FORMAT

Objectives

CCSS.MATH. CONTENT.6.RPA.2

Standard: Use ratio and rate reasoning to solve real-world and mathematical problems, e.g., by reasoning about tables of equivalent ratios, tape diagrams, double number line diagrams, or equations.

Ohio Revised Content Standards

Theme: Regions and People of the Eastern Hemisphere

Strand: Geography

Topic: Spatial Thinking and Skills

Content Statement: 3.Globes and other geographic tools can be used to gather, process and report information about people, places and environments. Cartographers decide which information to include and how it is displayed.

Student Learning Objective (Central Focus):

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The student will be able to use ratio and rate reasoning to solve real-world and mathematical problems while using a map scale, a geographic tool, to make estimates for Greek City-States’ areas and will be able to make comparative ratios of these areas. The student will be able to make 5 accurate estimates of the Greek City-States’ areas.

Key Vocabulary and Academic Language:

Key Vocabulary:

Ratio/Rate Area Scale Factor Latitude Longitude Region

Academic Language:

Approximate Estimate Reason Measure Utilize Calculate

Materials

Technology Resources/Resources:

Document Camera Computer Computer Adapter to document camera Map with longitude and longitude showing Ancient Greece Worksheets hidden in Ziploc bags (x10)

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Expo Markers Whiteboard Example Ratios worksheet (x1) The Amazing Race handout (x20) Classroom notebooks (x20) Classroom workbooks (x20) Pencils (x20) Sudoku Puzzles (x20, but this is not a necessity)

Procedures

1. Begin by emphasizing how exciting Greek City-States are and that we will be using different ideas to study ratios for the lesson. (1 Minute)

2. Review the definition of a ratio. (4 minutes)-What is a ratio?-If no response, have the students take out their classroom notebooks to the notes describing a ratio.-Someone give me an example of a ratio. What does this mean? In what ways can I write a ratio?

3. Practice writing ratios with word problems. (15 minutes)-Use the example ratio worksheet provided titled “Example Ratios.” These examples will be shown under the document camera and the only copy is for the teacher.-Students will practice and record these problems in their classroom notebooks.

4. Introduce The Amazing Race (3 minutes)-Pass out The Amazing Race-Students will look around the room to find questions (in sleeves) involving ratios and/or Greek City-States information.-There are 10 questions to find and get through. The group that finds and answers the most correctly is the winner-Pass out the worksheets and state that “students can ask me questions at my desk, but must form an orderly line”-Remember that pairs must work on the same problem at all times. No partner left behind.

5. Pair the students in 2s (they will work with a neighbor) and release them into the activity (30 minutes)

6. As students go through this activity the questions may frustrate them as answers will not come easily. So, be prepared to have students asking many questions. -Remind students that they have previous notes on rate and ratios in their notebook.-Do not ask the students leading questions, e.g. “If I am trying to find Sparta’s coordinates wouldn’t I just…”-You are permitted to inform a student whether their answer is correct or incorrect.

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-If students finish the activity early then you will collect their worksheets and allow them time for silent reading, homework, or Sudoku puzzles (found in the creative puzzle folder in the back of the room.

7. Clean-up/conclusion (3 minutes until the end of class)-Collect The Amazing Race worksheets-Dismiss students

DifferentiationSage T., Alexis M., Bradley C., Thomas R., and Emily P. will be given typed notes due to their IEPs. These notes will explain a variety of complicated words such as: latitude, longitude, approximate, agoge, ratio, rate, etc. Also, these students, Melissa C., and Mitchell W., will receive larger print worksheets due to their 504 plans. Separate questions on The Amazing Race worksheet with enlarged text have been placed behind the primary worksheets, in the Ziploc bags.

Assessment

Formative Assessments:

Questioning:

The teacher will ask students questions throughout the lesson in a 1:2 format (i.e. the teacher will ask two students working together in pairs non-leading questions in order for them to better understand what they are doing in a specific task.

Feedback will be given to the students in a timely manner as students are able to ask the teacher if a task has been done correctly. The teacher can will respond with a note to think about either verbally, or written. Also, the teacher may elect to put a checkmark for a correct answer with work shown if approached by the student first (as this is still a competition. The answer sheets with work shown to questions will be collected at the end of the period and will be graded that night in order to be returned the next day for even more feedback to be given.

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Supplemental Materials for The Amazing Greek Race

The Amazing Greek Race

1 At the age of seven, Spartan boys that are deemed worthy are placed into the agoge. The agoge is where the young boys would begin their intense military training. If the agoge only accepts 3 of every 7 boys. Then how many 7 year olds are likely to be admitted out of a population of 42 boys? How would you write the ratio presented in this problem?

Answer: 18 seven year olds would be accepted, 3:7.

2. Pheidippides is attributed with running the world’s first marathon after running the distance from Marathon to Athens (about 25 miles) after emerging victorious against the Persian army. Suppose he ran the 26 miles in 3 hours. At approximately what rate was he traveling at in miles per hour. Round your answer to the nearest tenth.

Answer: He was running at approximately 8.67 mph.

3. This is a globe checkpoint. For this task you will have to locate both the latitude and longitude of Greece by using a map/globe.

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DisclaimerAnswers may vary. Approximately 37 N and 22 E

4. Simplify the following ratios: 16:25, 21:14, and 30:60

Answers: 4:5, 3:2, and 1:25. A soldier from Corinth and Argos meet up to have a contest to see who is the better at

throwing spears. The soldier from Corinth threw first and his spear traveled 70 feet in 10 seconds. The second threw his spear and it had traveled 49 feet in 7 seconds, but had yet to land. Write a ratio showing the two soldiers throws. Which soldier was better at throwing spears?

Answer: 70 feet/10 seconds, 49 feet/7 seconds. The rate at which the spears were traveling was 7 feet per second, so they were equally good in spear throwing ability.

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6. Using the globe provided in the classroom locate our current coordinates. Be as specific as possible.

Answer: 39 N and 85 W

7. Pretend you are 27 minutes to the west of your favorite park and your friend is 18 minutes to the east of the park. You both leave your current location at the same time. Write a ratio comparing amount of minutes traveled between you and you friend so that you will both arrive at your location at the same time

8. Using the map provided identify what major city is located at 24.9 N and 55 E? What state is located at 42 N and 93 W?

Answers: Dubai and Iowa

9. Chicken Soup Avgolemono is a famous Greek chicken soup flavored with creamy egg-lemon flavor. At a store you were able to find 40 oz of this fine soup for $6.00. However, you found the same type of soup one shelf up at 60 oz being sold at $7.80. What is the rate per oz of each soup? Which is the better deal?

Answer: 40 oz soup is 15 cents per oz and the 60 oz soup is 13 cents per oz. The 60 oz can is the better deal.

10. Two terms we have been learning a lot about recently are rates and ratios. Give a definition for each.

Answer: Rate: A rate is a special ratio in which the two terms are in different units. A ratio is a relationship between two numbers.

The Amazing Greek Race

Directions: I have scattered 10 Ziploc bags around the room and in each is a question relating to what we have been learning in math and social studies. You and your partner will search for these questions and proceed to answer them in the space provided below.

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You and your partner must work on the same question at the same time. When you have finished turn in your work to your period’s tray. Questions are welcomed. Good luck!

1.

2.

3

4

5

6

7

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8

9

10

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The Different Types of Maps: An inquiry lesson

BACKGROUND

Course: Social Studies      Date:11/18/14                 MCE Candidate(s): Christopher Vanderhorst and Russell Marzullo

School: Integrated Unit School  Grade Level 6    Mentoring Teacher: Plato

The Different Types of Maps: An inquiry lesson  

LESSON PLAN FORMAT

Objectives

Strand: Geography

Topic(s): Places and Regions

Spatial Thinking and Skills

Content Statement for Spatial Thinking and Skills: 3. Globes and other geographic tools can be used to gather, process and report information about people, places and environments. Cartographers decide which information to include and how it is displayed.

Content Statement for Places and Regions: 5. Regions can be determined, classified and compared using various criteria

Students will be able to use geographic tools to gather, process, and report information about people, places, and environments as well as indicating that regions can be determined classified and compared using various criteria. The student will be able to identify the political, climate, physical, and economic maps when presented at the end of the lesson via an exit slip and must correctly 3 of the 4 maps.

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Key vocabulary:

Climate map-cartographer-altitude-latitude-economic map-physical map-political map-key-map-region-landmass

Academic language:

Identify, process, interpret, classify, and compare/contrast.

Materials:

Doc camera Whiteboard + dry erase markers Political map, physical map, climate map, and economic maps of Europe, Greece, and the

USA Exit slips for students Classroom notebooks + writing utensils Typed notes of PowerPoint for differentiation

Procedures

-Students will take seats to a quiet room as you turn on the document camera

-Teacher will instruct students to pay attention to the series of pictures that will be placed underneath the doc camera and think about what is unique about them and what they are.

-Teacher will first place the economic map under the document camera and will give students 20-30 seconds to process it during this time students are not permitted to be talking. Students may be jotting down notes of the pictures, but are not required to do so

-Teacher will then place a climate map under the document camera and again give students about 30 seconds to process it.

-Teacher will place physical map under the document camera. At this point, students’ confusion as to what they are looking at should be clearing up.

-Teacher will place the political map underneath the document camera and students should still remain quiet as this is going on.

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-Teacher will ask for students to describe what they have seen in small groups of 3-4 students. Questions for groups to consider (verbally given): What did we just see? What did each picture symbolize? Was anything familiar and/or unfamiliar? (3-4 minutes)

-Students will be asked to come back into a large group setting and discuss what their groups talked about. What key points were made? (5 minutes)

-Teacher will obviously verify that these pictures were different types of maps and specify what each was by referencing them individually under the doc camera. (2 minutes)

-Teacher will then instruct the students that what they have just done will tie into their lesson about maps for the day.

END OF INQUIRY SECTION

-Students will be instructed to take notes from a PowerPoint that corresponds to the learning of maps.

-Teacher will pull up PowerPoint on the projector by switching the source tab to “computer” and will proceed to open up the PowerPoint “The Different Types of Maps” on the desktop

-Proceed to first slide titled “Mapmakers” that will discuss the definition of a cartographer as well as the earliest maps. (students should be taking notes on this slide) (3 minutes max)

-Flip to next slide and have a student, or students, read off the bullet points describing the political map and what its purpose is. (2 minutes)

-Move on to next slide titled “Physical Map” and call on students once more to read the slide. (2 minutes)

-Pause and discuss as a class what features they can think of that they have been to or are nearby that would go on these maps. This would be a good point to conduct a fist of five asking the students how comfortable they feel about the different maps. Questions to consider: What would go on each of these maps previously discussed? Why might we use these maps? (3-4 minutes)

-Read over last two map slides titled “Economic maps” and “Climate maps.” Be sure to go into detail about the symbols presented on the map key for these two maps. Give more time to review these slides. Questions: What kind of economic map could be used for the state of Ohio? What characteristics would there be? (8 minutes)

-Have the students put away their notes on maps and complete the exit slip titled “The Different Types of Maps Exit Slip” (5-6 minutes)

-Collect exit slips and it is time for dismissal (3 minutes)

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Differentiation

This class has 4 students with learning disabilities that are on IEPs (Michael, Thomas, Kelly, and Will). These students will be provided typed notes for the PowerPoint section of this lesson and should be handed out during the group discussion time of the inquiry section. The student that has a vision impairment (Shane) is permitted to sit closer to the computer or display screen if he has trouble seeing. Our one ELL student (Wil Maris) is allowed to consult her dictionary for the entirety of the lesson and should be watched closely for any frustration.

Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Questioning: Students will be asked a variety of thought-provoking questions to engage the learning process for immediate feedback.

Exit Slips: Students will use this assessment to show what they currently know about the 4 maps presented in the lesson and they will be returned upon entrance to the next day’s lesson.

Fist of Five: This assessment can be conducted at any point where confusion is readily apparent during the lesson, but was suggested to occur during the discussion to gain of the students that clearly need clarification of content.

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Supplemental Materials for The Different Types of Maps: An inquiry lesson

Economic Map:

Climate Map:

Physical Map:

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Political Map:

The Different Types of Maps Exit Slip

Give a brief description of the map listed and match it to the correct map presented on the overhead:

Political Map:

Physical Map:

Climate Map:

Economic Map:

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Political Map: ___ Physical Map: ___

Climate Map: ___ Economic Map:___

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Notes for The Different Types of Maps

Slide 1: Cartographers

A cartographer is a person who creates maps, whether they're of the world, the local bus routes, or buried pirate treasure.

Cartographers (map makers) have been around since the beginning of civilization. Anaximander was the first known man (a Greek!) to draw a map of the known world Fun fact: Maps were first printed using carven wooden blocks!

Slide 2: Political Map

A representation of a country's territories, boundaries, and capital(s) on paper or other material This is the most common map you have been shown in school

Slide 3: Physical Map

A map of an area that shows the major landforms of that area such as: rivers, mountains, oceans, deserts, etc.

Slide 4: Economic Maps

An economic map shows the specific types of economic activity or natural resources present in an area using different types of symbols

These types of maps can be used to study the economics of a certain regionEx: A region that has a major resource of oil might be shown by an oil barrel symbol!

Slide 5: Climate Map

A map that shows the climate of a region or regions. These maps are made after long periods of recorded data They are different than weather maps because weather maps shows activity in the atmosphere

over shorter periods!

????-What might a climate map look like in your neck of the woods?

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Pericles and the City

Teacher Candidate:

Grade Level:

Date:

Christopher Vanderhorst and Russell Marzullo6NA

PLAN

1. Strategy Title & Source: (& description)

Use Pericles Funeral Oratory in a search for textual evidence about Athenian Life. Students will be divided into groups and focus on instructor given sections of Pericles’ speech.

Students of same group will use the internet to explore and present verbally a report on an eastern hemisphere, speaking on a countries cultural and/or natural landmarks. Cultural significance, past and current use of landmark will be presented.

http://www.timeforkids.com/around-the-world

Beijing:

http://www.china.org.cn/top10/2012-05/29/content_25508382.htm

Istanbul: http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2011/sep/14/10-best-sights-istanbul-city-guide

Athens:

http://www.uenps2014.org/general-information/important-landmarks-and-sights-of-athens

Japan:

http://famouswonders.com/asia/japan/

New Zealand:

http://www.wondermondo.com/NewZealand.htm

Egypt:

http://www.touropia.com/top-attractions-in-egypt/

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India: http://famouswonders.com/asia/india/

Indonesia: http://famouswonders.com/asia/indonesia/

2. Class description & Differentiation: Describe the important characteristics of the students that need to be considered in planning & teaching to facilitate learning for all students.

· Students' prior content knowledge, language development, social & emotional developments, special needs

· Include how you differentiate your instruction based on this information

Class description: In this class there are 3 students with learning disabilities, 4 gifted students, and 1 ELL.

Gifted students will be permitted to work at a faster pace when going through the steps for citing for textual evidence up to a certain point.

Students who are struggling readers will have key words to look for in the speech.

ELL. Students given a speech copy with a translation dictionary

3. Common Core ELA Standards: Identify strand, grade, number (e.g. RL4.3) & include entire standard.

RL.1 Strand Reading: Literature

Topic Key Ideas and Details

Standard Statements

1. Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says

explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

2. Determine a theme or central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a

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summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments.

WHST.6-8.6

Use technology, including the internet, to produce and publish writing and present the relationships between the information and ideas clearly and efficiently.

4. Student Learning Objective (central focus): ABCD

· Audience: Who (the student)

· Behavior: What (standard)

· Condition: How (strategy/text)

· Degree: Measureable outcome

Students who already have had practice highlighting textual proof on a given topic, will use the speech to cite textual evidence about Athenian life both explicit, and inferred. Students will show mastery by stating at least 6 arguments from the text.

Students, in a assigned group will present through power point, 5 major places of cultural importance from a culture of their choosing.

Students will recognize the country and capital city of their given project focus.

5. Instructional Materials, Equipment & Technology: List all of the texts, materials & technology the teacher & students will use during the lesson, including titles & sources (Cite creator of materials. Where appropriate, use "Lesson plan or strategy adapted from _____”)

Pericles Speech. Graphic organizer to summarize location in text of support, chrome books or internet ready computer for each student. Overhead projector.

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Attach any handouts to this lesson plan

6. Function Language: What literacy terms will you use to help the students understand the reading strategy? Use terms from the strategy & the standard (e.g., predicting, connections, decoding, etc.)

Summarize, decode text, inference, cite, support.

7. Key Vocabulary: List the vocabulary from the text/strategy that is at the students’ instructional & frustration level.

Orator, procession, ancient, and intellectual.

ENGAGE & INSTRUCT

8. Opening: Elicit students’ prior knowledge about concept & strategy in multiple ways (not just questions).

Have students work with a highlighter and Pericles funeral oratory to find specific examples of Athenian life.

Students will be expected to log in to district provided internet accessible devices

9. Learning Activities: Give detailed, step-by-step instructions on how you will implement the instructional plan in the procedures below. Describe exactly what you & the students will do during the lesson & how you will scaffold their

Students will use a highlighter to passages in a given paragraph to show evidence using a primary source.

Students will use the internet to access provide textual support regarding cultural landmarks of a teacher assigned eastern hemisphere city.

Students will display a 4-5 page power

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learning. Please use a numbered or bulleted list.

In planning your lesson, think about:

· The complete step-by-step directions & scaffolding you will provide

· What kinds of questions you plan to ask

point to the class

Teacher Modeling: This should describe how you alone will demonstrate the entire strategy to the students (no participation from students)—include your examples.

Teacher will read the Pericles speech in order to present the text with prosody and proper syntax.

Teacher will use overhead projector to highlight important information regarding Athenian life. Teacher will model using internet to look for pertinent land marks around a city, then filling out description of landmark, including its purpose, current state, and the culture responsible for building it.

Guided Practice: During this part of the lesson, the teacher and the students practice together. You will assist the students, takes turns & participate along with the class—include your examples.

Using another paragraph teacher will assist students in a read along while students will continue to highlight speech showing textual proof of life in Greece at this time.

Independent Practice: Release the students to demonstrate their ability to complete the activity

Students will continue to highlight Pericles speech to show instances of Athenian life.

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alone. Include complete directions that explain what students must do to complete the activity.

Students will be given a city from the world to showcase their landmarks, filling in a graphic organizer to show a buildings purpose, their creators, and the current state of the building.

10. Closure: How will the students demonstrate their ability to meet the objective, including how you will measure & document this ability?

Attach your assessment tool to this lesson plan.

Students will demonstrate ability to cite textual support by handing in a written summary of what was obtained of proof of Athenian city life.

Students will be able to summarize verbally those clues to how Athenians lived during the time of this speech.

ASSESS

11. Assessment Strategies

How you will document the students’ ability to meet the objective. (Degree) List quizzes, rubrics, handouts, or any additional documentation related to your assessment.

• Formative: Measures process/progress toward mastery of target(s)

• Summative: Measures outcomes/achievement of target(s)

Target-Assessment Alignment Table

Students can be able to show direct textual proof about where the author spoke about Athenian life.

Students can demonstrate use of technology to summarize history of significant landmarks in Eastern Hemisphere.

Objective Degree

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· What must the student know & be able to demonstrate?

In this space, describe how you will assess (F&S) whether students have met this objective.

Formative: Students will provide highlighted texts to show the picking of pertinent information on Athenian life, showing at least 6 pieces of examples of Athenian life from Pericles’ time.

PowerPoints will be assessed on showing three facts on the landmarks they have chosen showing the following: history use, and cultural significance.

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Supplemental Materials for Pericles and the City

Group 1 Reading

In the same winter the Athenians, following their annual custom, gave a public funeral for those who had been the first to die in the war. These funerals are held in the following way: two days before the ceremony the bones of the fallen are brought and put in a tent which has been erected, and people make whatever offerings they wish to their own dead. Then there is a funeral procession in which coffins of cypress wood are carried on wagons. There is one coffin for each tribe, which contains the bones of members of that tribe. One empty bier is decorated and carried in the procession: this is for the missing, whose bodies could not be recovered. Everyone who wishes to, both citizens and foreigners, can join in the procession, and the women who are related to the dead are there to make their laments at the tomb. The bones are laid in the public burial place, which is in the most beautiful quarter outside the city walls. Here the Athenians always bury those who have fallen in war. The only exception is those who died at Marathon, who, because their achievement was considered absolutely outstanding, were buried on the battlefield itself.

When the bones have been laid in the earth, a man chosen by the city for his intellectual gifts and for his general reputation makes an appropriate speech in praise of the dead, and after the speech all depart. This is the procedure at these burials, and all through the war, when the time came to do so, the Athenians followed this ancient custom. Now, at the burial of those who were the first to fall in the war Pericles,1 the son of Xanthippus, was chosen to make the speech. When the moment arrived, he came forward from the tomb and, standing on a high platform, so that he might be heard by as many people as possible in the crowd, he spoke as follows:

Many of those who have spoken here in the past have praised the institution of this speech at the close of our ceremony. It seemed to them a mark of honor to our soldiers who have fallen in war that a speech should be made over them. I do not agree. These men have shown themselves valiant in action, and it would be enough, I think, for their glories to be proclaimed in action, as you have just seen it done at this funeral organized by the state. Our belief in the courage and manliness of so many should not be hazarded on the goodness or badness of one man’s speech. Then it is not easy to speak with a proper sense of balance, when a man’s listeners find it difficult to believe in the truth of what one is saying. The man who knows the facts and loves the dead may well think that an oration tells less than what he knows and what he would like to hear: others who do not know so much may feel envy for the dead, and think the orator over-praises them, when he speaks of exploits that are beyond their own capacities. Praise of other people is tolerable only up to a certain point, the point where one still believes that one could do oneself some of the things one is hearing about. Once you get beyond this point, you will find people becoming jealous and incredulous. However, the fact is that this institution was set up and approved by our forefathers, and it is my duty to follow the tradition and do my best to meet the wishes and the expectations of every one of you.

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______________________

1Pericles was the leading statesman in Athens from the late 460s until his death in 429 . He presided over the transformation of the Delian League into an Athenian empire, using the tribute

exacted from the Delian poleis to introduce payment for public service, to support writers and artists, and to rebuild Athenian temples destroyed during the Persian Wars.

Pericles, group 2 I shall begin by speaking about our ancestors, since it is only right and proper on such an occasion to pay them the honor of recalling what they did. In this land of ours there have always been the same people living from generation to generation up till now, and they, by their courage and their virtues, have handed it on to us a free country. ey certainly deserve our praise. Even more so do our fathers deserve it. For to the inheritance they had received they added all the empire we have now, and it was not without blood and toil that they handed it down to us of the present generation. And then we ourselves, assembled here today, who are mostly in the prime of life, have, in most directions, added to the power of our empire and have organized our state in such a way that it is perfectly well able to look after itself both in peace and in war.

I have no wish to make a long speech on subjects familiar to you all, so I shall say nothing about the war-like deeds by which we acquired our power or the battles in which we or our fathers gallantly resisted our enemies, Greek or foreign. What I want to do is, in the first place, to discuss the spirit in which we faced our trials and also our constitution and the way of life which has made us great. After that I shall speak in praise of the dead, believing that this kind of speech is not inappropriate to the present occasion, and that this whole assembly, of citizens and foreigners, may listen to it with advantage. Let me say that our system of government does not copy the institutions of our neighbors. It is more the case of our being a model to others than of our imitating anyone else. Our constitution is called a democracy because power is in the hands not of a minority but of the whole people. When it is a question of settling private disputes, everyone is equal before the law; when it is a question of putting one person before another in positions of public responsibility, what counts is not membership of a particular class, but the actual ability which the man possesses. No one, so long as he has it in him to be of service to the state, is kept in political obscurity because of poverty. And, just as our political life is free and open, so is our day-to-day life in our relations with each other. We do not get into a state with our next-door neighbor if he enjoys himself in his own way, nor do we give him the kind of black looks which, though they do no real harm, still do hurt people’s feelings. We are free and tolerant in our private lives; but in public affairs we keep to the law. This is because it commands our deep respect. We give our obedience to those whom we put in positions of authority, and we obey the laws themselves, especially those which are for the protection of the oppressed, and those unwritten laws which it is an acknowledged shame to break.

Pericles group 3And here is another point. When our work is over, we are in a position to enjoy all kinds of recreation for our spirits. There are various kinds of contests and sacrifices regularly throughout the year; in our own homes we find a beauty and a good taste which delight us every day and which drive away our cares. Then the greatness of our city brings it about that all the good

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things from all over the world flow in to us, so that to us it seems just as natural to enjoy foreign goods as our own local products. Then there is a great difference between us and our opponents in our attitude towards military security. Here are some examples: Our city is open to the world, and we have no periodical deportations in order to prevent people observing or finding out secrets which might be of military advantage to the enemy. This is because we rely, not on secret weapons, but on our own real courage and loyalty. There is a difference, too, in our educational systems. The Spartans, from their earliest boyhood, are submitted to the most laborious training in courage; we pass our lives without all these restrictions, and yet are just as ready to face the same dangers as they are. Here is a proof of this: When the Spartans invade our land, they do not come by themselves, but bring all their allies with them; whereas we, when we launch an attack abroad, do the job by ourselves and, though fighting on foreign soil, do not often fail to defeat opponents who are fighting for their own hearths and homes. As a matter of fact, none of our enemies has ever yet been confronted with our total strength, because we have to divide our attention between our navy and the many missions on which our troops are sent on land. Yet, if our enemies engage a detachment of our forces and defeat it, they give themselves credit for having thrown back our entire army; or, if they lose, they claim that they were beaten by us in full strength. There are certain advantages, I think, in our way of meeting danger voluntarily, with an easy mind, instead of with a laborious training, with natural rather than with state-induced courage. We do not have to spend our time practicing to meet sufferings which are still in the future; and when they are actually upon us we show ourselves just as brave as these others who are always in strict training. This is one point in which, I think, our city deserves to be admired. There are also others:Our love of what is beautiful does not lead to extravagance; our love of the things of the mind does not make us soft. We regard wealth as something to be properly used, rather than as something to boast about. As for poverty, no one need be ashamed to admit it: the real shame is in not taking practical measures to escape from it. Here each individual is interested not only in his own affairsPericles Group 4but in the affairs of the state as well: even those who are mostly occupied with their own business are extremely well-informed on general politics—this is a peculiarity of ours: we do not say that a man who takes no interest in politics is a man who minds his own business; we say that he has no business here at all. We Athenians, in our own persons, take our decisions on policy or submit them to proper discussions: for we do not think that there is an incompatibility between words and deeds; the worst thing is to rush into action before the consequences have been properly debated. And this is another point where we differ from other people. We are capable at the same time of taking risks and of estimating them beforehand. Others are brave out of ignorance; and, when they stop to think, they begin to fear. But the man who can most truly be accounted brave is he who best knows the meaning of what is sweet in life and of what is terrible, and then goes out undeterred to meet what is to come. Again, in questions of general good feeling there is a great contrast between us and most other people. We make friends by doing good to others, not by receiving good from them. This makes our friendship all the more reliable, since we want to keep alive the gratitude of those who are in our debt by showing continued goodwill to them: whereas the feelings of one who owes us something lack the same enthusiasm, since he knows that, when he repays our kindness, it will be more like paying back a debt than giving something spontaneously. We are unique in this.

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When we do kindnesses to others, we do not do them out of any calculations of profit or loss: we do them without afterthought, relying on our free liberality. Taking everything together then, I declare that our city is an education to Greece, and I declare that in my opinion each single one of our citizens, in all the manifold aspects of life, is able to show himself the rightful lord and owner of his own person, and do this, moreover, with exceptional grace and exceptional versatility. And to show that this is no empty boasting for the present occasion, but real tangible fact, you have only to consider the power which our city possesses and which has been won by those very qualities which I have mentioned. Athens, alone of the states we know, comes to her testing time in a greatness that surpasses what was imagined of her. In her case, and in her case alone, no invading enemy is ashamed at being defeated, and no subject can complain of being governed by people unfit for their responsibilities. Mighty indeed are the marks and monuments of our empire which we have left. Future ages will wonder at us, as the present age wonders at us now. We do not need the praises of a Homer, or of anyone else whose words may delight us for the moment, but whose estimation of facts will fall short of what is really true. For our adventurous spirit has forced an entry into every sea and into every land; and everywhere we have left behind us everlasting memorials of good done to our friends or suffering inflicted on our enemies. This, then, is the kind of city for which these men, who could not bear the thought of losing her, nobly fought and nobly died. It is only natural that every one of us who survive them should be willing to undergo hardships in her service. And it was for this reason that I have spoken at such length about our city, because I wanted to make it clear that for us there is more at stake than there is for others who lack our advantages; also I wanted my words of praise for the dead to be set in the bright light of evidence. And now the most important of these words has been spoken. I have sung the praises of our city; but it was the courage and gallantry of these men, and of people like them, which made her splendid. Nor would you find it true in the case of many of the Greeks, as it is true of them, that no words can do more than justice to their deeds. Pericles Group 5 To me it seems that the consummation which has overtaken these men shows us the meaning of manliness in its first revelation and in its final proof. Some of them, no doubt, had their faults; but what we ought to remember first is their gallant conduct against the enemy in defense of their native land. They have blotted out evil with good, and done more service to the commonwealth than they ever did harm in their private lives. No one of these men weakened because he wanted to go on enjoying his wealth: no one put off the awful day in the hope that he might live to escape his poverty and grow rich. More to be desired than such things, they chose to check the enemy’s pride. This, to them, was a risk most glorious, and they accepted it, willing to strike down the enemy and relinquish everything else. As for success or failure, they left that in the doubtful hands of Hope, and when the reality of battle was before their faces, they put their trust in their own selves. In the fighting, they thought it more honorable to stand their ground and suffer death than to give in and save their lives. So they fled from the reproaches of men, abiding with life and limb the brunt of battle; and, in a small moment of time, the climax of their lives, a culmination of glory, not of fear, were swept away from us. So and such they were these men—worthy of their city. We who remain behind may hope to be spared their fate, but must resolve to keep the same daring spirit against the foe. It is not simply a question of estimating the advantages in theory. I could tell you a long story (and you know it as well as I do) about what is to be gained by beating the enemy back. What I would prefer is that you should fix your eyes every day on the greatness of Athens as she really is, and

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should fall in love with her. When you realize her greatness, then reflect that what made her great was men with a spirit of adventure, men who knew their duty, men who were ashamed to fall below a certain standard. If they ever failed in an enterprise, they made up their minds that at any rate the city should not find their courage lacking to her, and they gave to her the best contribution that they could. They gave her their lives, to her and to all of us, and for their own selves they won praises that never grow old, the most splendid of sepulchers—not the sepulcher in which their bodies are laid, but where their glory remains eternal in men’s minds, always there on the right occasion to stir others to speech or to action. For famous men have the whole earth as their memorial. It is not only the inscriptions on their graves in their own country that mark them out; no, in foreign lands also, not in any visible form but in people’s hearts, their memory abides and grows. It is for you to try to be like them. Make up your minds that happiness depends on being free, and freedom depends on being courageous. Let there be no relaxation in fact of the perils of the war. e people who have most excuse for despising death are not the wretched and unfortunate, who have no hope of doing well for themselves, but those who run the risk of a complete reversal in their lives, and who would feel the difference most intensely if things went wrong for them. Any intelligent man would find a humiliation caused by his own slackness more painful to bear than death, when death comes to him unperceived, in battle, and in the confidence of his patriotism. For these reasons I shall not commiserate with those parents of the dead, who are present here. Instead I shall try to comfort them. They are well aware that they have grown up in a world where there are many changes and chances. But this is good fortune—for men to end their lives with honor, as these have done, and for you honorably to lament them: their life was set to a measure where death and happiness went hand in hand. I know that it is difficult to convince you of this. When you see other people happy you will often be reminded of what used to make you happy too. One does not feel sad at not having some good thing which is outside one’s experience: real grief is felt at the loss of something which one is used to. All the same, those of you who are of the right age must bear up and take comfort in the thought of having more children. In your own homes these new children will prevent you from brooding over those who are no more, and they will be a help to the city, too, both in filling the empty places, and in assuring her security. For it is impossible for a man to put forward fair and honest views about our affairs if he has not, like everyone else, children whose lives may be at stake. As for those of you who are now too old to have children, I would ask you to count as gain the greater part of your life, in which you have been happy, and remember that what remains is not long, and let your hearts be lifted up at the thought of the fair fame of the dead. One’s sense of honor is the only thing that does not grow old, and the last pleasure when one is worn out with age, is not, as the poet said, making money, but having the respect of one’s fellow men.

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Creation Myths: The start of geography

Teacher Candidate:

Grade Level:

Date:

Russell Marzullo & Chris Vanderhorst

6th Grade

11/14/14

PLAN

1. Strategy Title & Source: (& description) Through a grand conversation and use of a

literature based word wall, students will construct a mythical world creation story to grasp recognition of cultural similarities and differences in myths from various populations. The literature used for this lesson: Chinese Creation Myth:

Greek Creation myth: Book of Greek Myths, Ingri & Edgar Parin D’aulaires, 1962 Doubleday & co.

Creation world themes adapted from: https://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Creation_myth.html

Grand Conversations in Primary Classrooms, Capacity building series, Ref # 18, from the literacy and numeracy secretariat, April, 2011

Word Wall: Gail Tompkins, Literacy in the Middle Grades: Teaching Reading and Writing to Fourth Through Eighth Graders,2009, Pearson.

http://pages.ucsd.edu/~dkjordan/cgi-bin/chopera.pl?taleid=Myth223A

German creation myth: http://users.dickinson.edu/~eddyb/mythology/Creation-1.html

Lenape creation myth: http://henryhahn.net/myths/lenapecreation.html

2. Class description & Differentiation:

Students who are experiencing issues in writing will need to be considered. Students with challenges in writing will have access to

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Describe the important characteristics of the students that need to be considered in planning & teaching to facilitate learning for all students.

· Students' prior content knowledge, language development, social & emotional developments, special needs

· Include how you differentiate your instruction based on this information

computer.

Reading might need to be scaffold. Cards with key vocabulary, pre-highlighted text, and conferencing to facilitate instruction can be used.

ELL students will receive a shortened version of their world myth, with use of a personalized word chart for frustration level words.

3. Common Core ELA Standards: Identify strand, grade, number (e.g. RL4.3) & include entire standard.

RL.6.4 Craft and Structure

Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of a specific word choice on meaning and tone.

L.6.6 – Vocabulary acquisition and use

Acquire and use accurately grade appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases; gather vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to

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expression or comprehension.

W.6.3 Text types and purposes

Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences

4. Student Learning Objective (central focus): ABCD

· Audience: Who (the student)

· Behavior: What (standard)

· Condition: How (strategy/text)

· Degree: Measureable outcome

Students of varying instructional levels will read Dauliares to aid in recognizing why myths were created.

Students will listen to a lecture on different charteristics of creation myths

Students will work towards writing their own myth by using graphic organizers and rough drafts to complete a final project. The students will be assessed on two projects and a post unit test.

5. Instructional Materials, Equipment & Technology: List all of the texts, materials & technology the teacher & students will use during the

Copies of D’aulaires Greek Myths, German, Chinese, Lenape creation myths. graphic organizers, pencils, pens, internet accessing devices. Dictionaries. Whiteboard with markers.

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lesson, including titles & sources (Cite creator of materials. Where appropriate, use "Lesson plan or strategy adapted from _____”)

Attach any handouts to this lesson plan

6. Function Language: What literacy terms will you use to help the students understand the reading strategy? Use terms from the strategy & the standard (e.g., predicting, connections, decoding, etc.)

Decoding, comparing, similarities, narrative, myth, differences, textual evidence, creative writing, characteristics, brainstorm, creation, myth, Ex nihilo, Creation from chaos, World parent, Emergence, Earth-diver

7. Key Vocabulary: List the vocabulary from the text/strategy that is at the students’ instructional &

Greek, Norse, Chinese, Lenape, chaos, jealousy, creation, myth, dwelt, apparently, beings, fulfill, solidity, physical, creativity, knowledge, intuition, renewal, emotions, reproduction, characteristics, companion, conceive, fertility, wholeness, disturbance, separated, chaotic, fasten, primal, shattered, congeal, vital, perspiration, realm, emanate, consecutive, plotted, fashioned,

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frustration level.

illuminate, spherical, possess, radiant, beauty

ENGAGE & INSTRUCT

8. Opening: Elicit students’ prior knowledge about concept & strategy in multiple ways (not just questions).

Students will be given a 20 point pre-assessment based on a twenty point score of comparing two given works of writing (this was done prior to beginning of unit). Students will be asked to describe their previous knowledge about mythical gods, their names, the nature associated with them. Students will be asked how they think the world was created as well as knowledge of how other theories describe the creation of the earth.

9. Learning Activities: Give detailed, step-by-step instructions on how you will implement the instructional plan in the procedures below. Describe exactly what you & the students will do during the lesson & how you will scaffold their learning. Please use a numbered or bulleted list.

Teacher will introduce a word wall based on the four stories to be studied. Instructional words will be set on wall beforehand. The wall will contain 24 boxes to put words on.

Learners will receive a vocabulary list of important words along with Frayer models to fill out.

Students will be given a copy of a segment of D’auliares Greek Myths pertaining to the ancient idea of how the world was created.

Teacher will speak on the various themes in creation myths. The terms of

Ex nihilo, Creation from chaos, World parent, Emergence, Earth-diver will be defined on the white board.

Teacher, based on students suggestion, will continue to add to the word wall.

Teacher will initiate a grand discussion based on those pages.

General questions such as “what was an interesting point in this story?” Will be

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In planning your lesson, think about:

· The complete step-by-step directions & scaffolding you will provide

· What kinds of questions you plan to ask

followed by more specific questions such as “how do you think Cronos felt when he was tricked by his wife. Why was he eating his own kids? What kind of creation themes do we see in this passage?”

Students will be given their own creation myths to read independently.

Highlighters will be used to underline facts about the action or characteristics of their world creation.

Students will pair up with a group in a ‘grand conversation’. Teacher may find it necessary to give a prompt to facilitate conversation, for example; “can more than one creation myth theme be present in one story?”

Teacher will model an appropriate way to discuss findings, eliciting hand raising, and polite dissention, by modeling remarks after an offered opinion by along the lines of “I agree with what you found, but I also found….”

Students will complete an outline of their creation myth. The instructor will conference to see how the action of the myth will progress, reminding students of rubric

Students will complete a ‘create your own myth’ about world creation. This will be a writing assignment comprising 3-4 paragraphs using mythical elements and descriptive words.

Teacher Modeling: This should describe how you alone will demonstrate

Teacher will fill out graphic organizer for vocabulary, modeling word definition, synonyms, antonyms, possible affixes, and use in a sentence.

Teacher will read the definitions of creation myth themes,

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the entire strategy to the students (no participation from students)—include your examples.

Instructor will use read D’aulaires myth till the end of the creation of the world.

Instructor will model highlighting important passages of Greek creation myth.

Teacher will use class time to talk about common themes in myths; lecturing on birth as a central role, the idea of chaos, The role gods play,

Teacher will make inferences about the events in the story. Modeling will take place with the intent of siting were in the story instances of a being creating a part of the world, and why the author chose this way to represent that creation.

Instructor will model imagining how a natural landform came into being, using descriptive language. “The mountains came about here by a snake that trashed its tail so hard it cracked the ground, jutting out peaks till they reached the sky.”

Guided Practice: During this part of the lesson, the teacher and the students practice together. You will assist the students, takes turns & participate along with the class—include your examples.

Instructor will ask students about instructional level words to be added to the word wall, making sure students predict what the word might mean before offering a definition to the added word.

After reading the Greek myths creation saga, teacher will engage in a discussion about how the Greeks saw their world come into being.

Looking for specific characteristics of the story, instructor should move the conversation along to specific events and ask opinions about why the gods acted the way they did.

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Questions will be asked about the characteristics of the gods, events leading to the creation of the world, changes in the setting.

Instructor will ask for volunteers to use more descriptive words to write the sentence.

Groups will be formed to share finding about their given creation myth stories. Students will be tasked with finding out what themes are present in each other stories, how they felt about the characters and setting, and whether or not the agree or disagree with the findings in this grand conversation

Independent Practice: Release the students to demonstrate their ability to complete the activity alone. Include complete directions that explain what students must do to complete the activity.

Students will read their own creation stories, highlighting important events. They will describe how 4 major types of landforms came into being. They will highlight proof of what type of creation theme is being used here.

Students will complete vocabulary Frayer models for at least 4 words.

Student will complete an outline of story Students will create their own story of

world creation

10. Closure: How will the students demonstrate their ability to meet the objective, including how

Students will turn in their stories to the teacher, grading them based on descriptive language and use of at least four landforms. Correct punctuation and spelling.

Students will submit vocabulary words Frayer models.

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you will measure & document this ability?

Attach your assessment tool to this lesson plan.

Students will submit given texts about world creation highlighting areas where landforms are created.

ASSESS

11. Assessment Strategies

How you will document the students’ ability to meet the objective. (Degree) List quizzes, rubrics, handouts, or any additional documentation related to your assessment.

• Formative: Measures process/progress toward mastery of target(s)

• Summative: Measures outcomes/achievement of target(s)

Target-Assessment Alignment Table Highlighted stories including D’aulaires Greek Myths. The Lenapé Creation Story. The Tale of Pángǔ the Giant, The Germanic Myth of Creation

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Objective Degree

Students must be able to diagram four words from the word wall correctly.

Students will have at least 3 paragraphs explaining how they used elements of fantasy and myth to relate the creation of the earth. The creation of 4 landforms will be described using creative language.

Text of D’aulaires Greek Myths is highlighted. Their cultural world myth is highlighted for textual cues about how their world was created.

In this space, describe how you will assess (F&S) whether students have met this objective.

Formative: Personal creation myth graded based on descriptive language, punctuation and spelling.

Highlighted texts of Highlighted stories including D’aulaires Greek Myths. The Lenapé Creation Story. The Tale of Pángǔ the Giant, The Germanic Myth of Creation

Frayer models completed

·

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Creative Writing Exercise Rubric

4 Points 7 Points 10 Points Additional Comments

Language Use/Mechanics

Word selection is

minimal. Descriptive language does not

inform. Many mechanical

errors present as well

grammar errors.

Word selection is somewhat

varied. Descriptive language

informs the reader

somewhat. 3-5 grammar

and mechanical errors are present.

Diverse and descriptive language is used that paints a

picture in the reader’s mind. Information is

bountiful and less than 3

grammar/mechanical errors are present.

Characters and Settings

Characters are not

included and a setting is not

included as well.

Either characters or a setting is included in the writing.

Both characters and a setting is included

in the writing.

Creation Myth Characteristics

None of the five creation myth themes are present.

No connections to

landforms changing.

One of 5 creation myth

themes present.

Theme does not fully relate to the story.

Two landforms are

changed based on

myth created.

One of 5 creation myth themes

present. Theme relates fully to the story and makes

sense to the reader. Three-four landforms are changed based

on the story.

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Supplemental Materials for Creation Myth: The start of geography

Definition: Parts of Speech:

_______________________________________

Synonym My Sentence

Antonym

The Lenapé Creation Story(Lenapé Kishelamàwa'kàn)

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Our lèpâ'chik, wise ones, say, "Kunakwat, lowat, nuchink...Long, long ago, in the beginning..." at first there was only endless space, and therein dwelt Kishelamàkânk, the Creator. Nothing else existed at this time, all was silence and there was a great peace.

Then it was that Kishelamàkânk had a great vision. In this vision he saw the endless space around him filled with stars, and he saw the sun, the moon, and the Earth. On the Earth he saw mountains, valleys, lakes, rivers, and forests. He saw the trees, flowers, crops, and grasses, and the crawling, walking, swimming and flying beings. He saw the birth of things, their growth and death, and other things that apparently lived forever. Then he heard songs, stories, laughs and cries. The Creator touched the wind and the rain, felt love and hate, courage and fear, happiness and sorrow. Then the vision passed, and it was gone!

Kishelamàkânk, the Creator, had seen that which was unknown, and he thought deeply upon all that he had seen in his vision. He came to understand that the vision would come into being. When there was nothing around him but empty space, his mind saw nothing and so nothing was created. Now, through thought, thinking in his mind of the vision, it started to happen.

Now the Creator instructed all of these Beings to come together on the Earth, to give of their powers together to create life. Nux Kishux, our Father Sun, gave heat and light, and Nipahuma. our Grandmother Moon, came down to Earth and gave of her powers of fertility and reproduction. Kukna, the Mother Earth, upon which all life was to be born, gave growth and healing. North Grandfather gave form to all life, East Grandfather gave the breath of life and Spirit, South Grandmother gave inner fire and Spirit, and West Grandfather gave of its water to life, life's blood.

First were made the plant beings of four kinds, grasses, flowering plants, trees, and crops. To each was given, through Spirit, life, growth, healing, and beauty. Each was placed where it would be most useful, and give the greatest harmony and balance to all land and life.

Then were made the animal beings. Each was given special powers and characteristics. There were those that crawled and walked upon the Earth, those that swam in the lakes, rivers, and streams upon the good Earth, and those that flew in the skies above.

Now, Nipahuma, our Grandmother Moon, having been set in the night sky, her Spirit became lonely and so she asked the Creator for a companion. The Creator sent her a Spirit, Grandfather Thunder, Muxumsa Pethakowe, to keep her company. With him she conceived, and when she came to lend her powers of fertility to the Earth to help in the creation of life, she gave birth upon the Earth to twins - one a man, and the other a woman. Thus it was humankind was the last of beings created. Though they were different, man and woman found a wholeness in union with each other. Only together were they complete and fulfilled, only together could they fulfill their purpose. The Creator gave man and woman a special gift, the power to dream. Nipahuma, our Mother who goes by night, the first mother, the mother of all mothers, nurtured her children, and when her purpose was complete she returned to the spirit world; but before she left she told first man and woman that she would never forget them. She continues to watch over us at night as the Moon. The children promised to remember Grandmother Moon whenever she appeared in the sky, giving her light to guide our paths.

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In vision the Creator had seen things of opposite natures, and so was created light and darkness, male and female, hot and cold, above and below, good and evil. Where the Creator created, giving forth goodness and light, Matantu, a Spirit of destruction, evil and darkness came into being. Where the Creator made edible plants, Matantu made poisonous plants. Where the Creator made the delicious blackberries, Matantu put thorns on them. Matantu also made tormenting insects such as flies, mosquitoes and poisonous snakes.

Now, Maxa'xâk and her children stay put in the watery depths, fearing the Thunderers who pursue them when they dare to venture forth, shooting their lightning arrows at the evil snakes.

At this time, there was another Spirit Being also on the Earth, the Wise and Gifted Being called Nanapush, the Strong Pure One, the Grandfather of Beings and Men. When he saw the rapidly rising water, he sought refuge on the highest mountain, hoping that there he would be safe. But the rain fell and fell and the waters continued to rise, until at last there was left only a small patch of ground on top of this mountain. And upon the top of this mountain, there was growing a small cedar tree. The rain continued, coming down in torrents for many days. It was now apparent that all of the seven islands, and the mountains, would soon be entirely covered with water. So the great and wise Nanapush picked up the animals and birds that had gathered on the mountain-top, and he tucked them carefully and safely inside his shirt. Then he went to the cedar tree, and spoke to it before he started to climb it. As he climbed he broke off branches and put them under his belt. Soon he reached the top of the tree, but the waters continued to rise and rise, now almost to his feet. So the great Nanapush began to sing and beat upon his bow-string which served as a drum. As he sang, the cedar tree, the sacred tree, began to grow, and it kept on growing as the waters continued to rise. After a long time, Nanapush, the Strong Pure One, the Grandfather of Beings and Men, grew tired of singing his song of peace to the raging elements, so he threw upon the waters the branches which he had plucked as he climbed. At once they took the form of a strong raft. On this raft he carefully placed all of the creatures he had saved, and the floated upon the waters on the cedar raft. Soon he saw the mountain peaks disappear under the steadily rising water; only Nanapush and the creatures he had saved remained alive.

After some time, Nanapush decided a new Earth should be made, a task he could well perform through the powers granted to him by the Creator. So he held a Council with the little creatures and they went to work to help him form a new island. Their first duty would be to get some soil from the submerged Earth. The first one to offer his help was Mitewile'un, the Loon. He dived and stayed down a very long time. When he came floating back up to the surface he was dead. So the great Nanapush breathed upon the unfortunate Loon, and its life was restored. Now Kùna'moxk, the Otter, dived down, but he failed in the attempt and also came up dead; he too was restored to life by Nanapush. Then Tamakwa, the Beaver, tried, but he in turn failed and had to be revived. Then Nanapush turned to Tamask'was, the Muskrat, and told him that he must try very hard to reach the old Earth. The little Muskrat stayed down twice as long as any of the rest, and he came to the surface completely exhausted, but still alive. An in his mouth and paws he carried some of the precious mud from the old world below the waters. The great Nanapush was pleased, and he carefully revived the little Muskrat and blessed him, promising that his kind would never die out.

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Now Nanapush made a great ceremony, a thanksgiving ceremony, the first thanksgiving ceremony ever to take place. Then, Nanapush called for a helper who would receive and carry the new Earth. Taxkwâx, the Turtle, responded and was at once chosen to perform this important duty. Nanapush placed the mud brought back by Tamask'was, the Muskrat, upon the back of the Turtle, and blew his life-giving breath into it. Immediately it began to grow; it grew and grew until it became the great island where all of us are living today. Because Turtle carried the new Earth on his back, this is why this land upon which we live is called Taxkwâx Mènâ'te, Turtle Island, and Amankitaxkwâwikan'ànk, the Place of the Great Turtle's Back.

Now on the new Earth, first man and first woman were nourished by food and drink brought by the animals, our elder brothers. The birds brought song and dance, the butterflies and bees amusement. All the animal beings served in some way except Màka'na, the Dog. Being less gifted than other animals, he had nothing to offer, but felt he must give something. So, the Dog pledged his love, and lay down beside where first man and first woman were sleeping. From that day the dog has remained by the side of humankind.

The first winter was a difficult one for those first Lenapé. The weather was very bad and the animals found food hard to find for them. So, Maxkwe, the Bear, fearing their death, offered of himself that they might live. With Bear's flesh they survived, and thereafter the other animals gave of themselves, their lives, to feed human beings. In gratitude and honor of the sacrifice of Bear, our ancestors held special ceremonies of thanksgiving for the gift of life from Bear and the other animals. We survive and have life because of the deaths of our elder brothers.

When Nanapush arrived in the far northern lands he found the peaceful silence and quiet contentment which he so much desired. There he built for himself a very large Wikwàm, a house, made of ice and snow. Now, every winter, he sleeps, like Maxkwe, the Bear, but before going to his bed of bearskins, he always smokes his pipe. So, the next time you see the pretty colored leaves on the trees in autumn and thick fog in the morning, you will know that Nanapush the Great Being, Grandfather of Beings and Men, is smoking his pipe and preparing to take his long winter nap.

From http://henryhahn.net/myths/lenapecreation.html

decorative graphic

Chinese Myths

Retold by DKJ

The Tale of Pángǔ the Giant

(Pángǔ Jǜrén 巨人盘古)

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When the earth and the sky had not yet been separated, they were a chaotic and undifferentiated mass, fastened together, like a great egg. And in this egg our ancestor Pángǔ 盘古 awoke from his sleep of eighteen thousand years to know the ugly darkness of a world still unborn.

Groping in the darkness he found a ax. Using the ax, he hacked at the primal chaos, and suddenly the chaos shattered. And as he swung about with his ax, the heavy and light elements moved about, and the light elements rose and joined together and became a heaven. And the heavy elements sank and congealed and became an earth.

Pángǔ pushed the heaven upward with his hands, and the earth downward with his feet, and as they moved farther apart, he himself grew and continued to press them. As the heaven and the earth continued to move. Pángǔ became an enormous giant.

And thus Pángǔ stood for eighteen thousand years, pushing the heaven and the earth further and further apart. It is said he stood nineteen thousand miles high, like a huge pillar holding the world in place. And the world stabilized, and Pángǔ grew no more.

Then one day he felt a great weariness, and he let go of his grip on the heaven. And lay down. And died.

The last breath of his mouth became the wind and the clouds we know today.

His dying sigh became our thunder.

His eyes became the sun and the moon.

His legs and arms became our mountains, and his blood became our rivers.

The passages in his body though which flowed his vital energy (qì 气) became the paths and roads by which we ourselves move through the world.

His flesh became our fields and pastures.

His hair and beard became the stars.

The hair on his body became our plants and trees, and his teeth and bones our rocks and minerals.

The marrow of his bones became the jade and jewels we find in rocks.

And the perspiration of his body became our rain and dew.

And thus the giant Pángǔ gave his whole strength and the whole of his body to create the world.

http://pages.ucsd.edu/~dkjordan/cgi-bin/chopera.pl?taleid=Myth223

The Germanic Myth of Creation

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In the beginning nothing existed except for Ginnungagap. Neither sand, sea, heaven or earth had been created. After a long span of time, a new realm emanated in the south called Muspell. It was made of fire, glowing embers, and scorching heat. In the north a second region sprang forth called Niflheim. It consisted of bitter winds, and of freezing ice and snow. Ginnungagap was situated between these two realms, and the waters from the eleven rivers of Hvergelmir flowed here. In the middle of the void all was mild, until one day the elements of fire and ice collided. In the north Niflheim's cold breeze began to freeze the void, while the southern part was thawed by the warmth emanating from Muspell. All was disorder. Life emerged from the drops of this great chaos in the shape of a giant. His name was Ymir and the frost giants are his descendants. While Ymir was asleep, the first man and woman were born from the sweat of his left armpit, and his legs gave birth to a son. Meanwhile, the ice on Ginnungagap continued to melt, until Audumbla the cow emerged. She fed the giant Ymir with her four teats. She sustained herself by licking the ice. As Audumbla licked the salty ice blocks for three consecutive nights, another being appeared, named Buri. Buri's son Bor married Bestla. They had three sons, Odin,Vili, and Ve.

Bor's sons had a raging hatred towards the giant Ymir, and they plotted his death. Ymir's corpse was carried to the center of Ginnungagap and cut into many pieces. Odin, Vili, and Ve fashioned the world out of Ymir's body. From Ymir's flesh they made the earth, and the mountains from his unbroken bones. From Ymir's shattered skeleton parts, teeth, and toes they created pebbles, boulders and rocks. Ymir's flowing blood gave rise to the rivers, lakes, and sea. Maggots grew from Ymir's rotting carcass,and they were shaped into dwarfs. Odin, Vili, and Ve lifted Ymir's skull so high it reached the end of the earth's limits, and they called it the sky. The sons of Bor placed a dwarf on each of the four corners to hold it over the earth. Their names were: Nordri, Sudri, Austri, and Vestri.Odin, Vili, and Ve snatched glowing embers from the realm of Muspellheim and fashioned the sun, moon, and stars. These orbs were placed above the world to illuminate the earth. Some stars were given a fixed point in the sky, while others were allowed to dance freely.

Odin, Vili, and Ve created the world in spherical form, and a body of water surrounded the earth.They designated part of the world as Jotunheim for the race known as the frost and rock giants. Because of the giants' malevolence towards humans, the brothers took Ymir's eyebrows to form a protective wall/enclosure around the center of the earth. This sheltered area was called Midgard, and housed the human race.

Odin, Vili, and Ve flung Ymir's brains up high in the sky, were they formed clouds.One day the sons of Bor came across two fallen trees. One was an Ash and the other an Elm. From these trees Odin created the first man and woman and gave them the essence of life. Vili gave them thought and feeling, and Ve gave them the ability to hear, speak and see. Their names were Ask and Embla. Odin, Vili, and Ve created the means to measure and record time. The light and dark phases of the earth were ruled by Night and Day. Odin set them in the sky on chariots which circled the world every two half days. Night's chariot was pulled by a horse named Hrimfaxi and Day's chariot by a mare named Skinfaxi. A man named Mundilfari had a son named Moon and a daughter named Sun. Theses two siblings were said to possess radiant beauty. Sun and Moon were snatched away by Odin and were placed in the sky to guide the orbs with these names. They drove chariots, and their horses were

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called Arvak (shining mane) and Alsvid (early-walker and all strong). Moon follows the moon around and decides its phases. The sun is chased by a wolf named Skoll, while a wolf named Hati Hrodnitnisson runs ahead of her trying to catch the moon.. Both the moon and the sun will be devoured by the wolves in the moment before Ragnarok -the end of the world.

http://users.dickinson.edu/~eddyb/mythology/Creation-1.html

Post-Assessments

Post-assessments are important in the learning process not because they help students

learn, but because they can let both teachers and students know how much they’ve learned. Post-

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assessments occur after a unit or concept has occurred and is meant to gauge what was learned as

well as how much progress was made throughout the unit. “Progress” is the key word in the

previous sentence. Students are expected to make improvements over the course of this Greek

City-States unit. The specific improvement that we wanted to occur was a minimum of a 5 point

gain. This means that if a student received a 5 on their content areas pre-assessment then they

should receive a minimum of a 10 on their post-assessment.

However, post-assessments that are strictly tests are not always the best method of

judging a student’s improvement over the span of such a short time. Also, not every student does

well in preparing for multiple post-assessment tests all at once. In order to compensate for this

our team decided to implement a project-based assessment that would be used as both a post-

assessment and a summative assessment. The overall view of our units post-assessments are as

follows: a unit test for mathematics, a project assessment for social studies, and a test for

language arts, with relation to the content’s individual unit.

Language arts is the first content area that we wish to describe. As stated earlier the pre-

assessment for this subject was a brief test utilizing multiple-choice questions as well as short-

answer question. For this post-assessment we will keep the same format demonstrated in the pre-

assessment, however, the test will be more in-depth and challenging. There will be double the

amount of questions given. So, instead of 15 questions (the pre-assessment) there will be 30

questions (20 multiple choice and 10 short answers of varying length responses) Students will

attempt to answer the questions with regard to the passages provided and additionally must

explain their reasoning. We will measure the students’ learning gains by comparing the pre-

assessment scores with the post-assessment scores. Because we have doubled the amount of

questions for the post-assessment we expect to see a gain of 10 points between the two. Also, we

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will look at the detailed responses provided to gauge the student’s actual knowledge of the

content.

For mathematics we will be following an identical format as the pre-assessment as well.

So, the test will be set-up with providing definitions, solving for rates and ratios, and setting up

proportions. The post-assessment test questions will be considerably harder and will be asking

for complete work to be shown. We will follow the same grading format that was done with the

pre-assessment, which means that answers without work shown will be a point deduction and on

the other hand students who show proper steps, but arrive to the wrong conclusion will only be

deducted half the points to the associated question. The amount of questions for the pre-

assessment and post-assessment are identical in nature as providing more questions would

detract from the student actually showing knowledge and would instead pose the risk of making

the student more anxious. On top of the overall post-assessment test we will also have exit slips

provided during the following lessons: “When Will I Use This?” “What is a Proportion?” and

“Cookin’ up Rates and Ratios.” We decided to give exit slips on these days to see what was

learned for that day’s topic and would allow us to provide formative assessment that the student

could reference as the unit progressed.

Our unit’s social studies assessment is entirely different compared to the previous post-

assessments. Due to the fact that the students have two summative assessments, which also serve

as post-assessments we elected to do something that would gauge student knowledge in a less

stressful manner. This assessment is the “Cartographers Create Maps Project.” In this project the

students have a few days to successfully create a map of the way they see their Greek Polis. As

stated in the rubric, which is provided on page 69, the students must incorporate specific details

within their map and supplemental rationale paper. The project will be graded entirely based off

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of the rubric, so students’ knowledge of the content will be measured off of the detailed

information they include as well as the rationale supporting their details. This means that

students who explain the general criteria within the rubric will be awarded more points. We want

our students to achieve a minimum of 75% on this project in order for them to have made

sufficient learning gains. A short quiz will be given toward the end of the period as well that will

not go down in the grade book due to the project serving as the large summative assessment

grade. The quiz is reflective of the basic concepts taught over the course of the 2 weeks like

knowledge of geographic tools, place, and latitude and longitude. Students achieving a score of 7

out of 10 on this ungraded quiz will be stated as proficient with regard to the knowledge gained.

The quiz will be 5 short answers that are worth 2 points each and they all require rationale for

full points. These questions will be supplemented with graphs, charts, maps, etc., to aid in the

learning process.

As a side note the two tests in language arts and mathematics will offer a chance at

correcting missed items. These corrected items turned in the following Monday’s class period

will be awarded half of the appropriately fixed questions back in their final grade. Every student

will have the chance to do this regardless of their original score and learning ability. This was

done to ensure that students have as many chances to improve on the content knowledge

displayed, which in turn helps their knowledge gains.

Language Arts:

Students will be able to identify descriptive language as it appears in summative

assessments. They will have an opportunity to define 20 words covered in the unit and use them

in sentences. The learners will also be given the opportunity to assess their knowledge of

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persuasive elements in writing. This test will gauge if they can define a given sentence or short

paragraph as a work of opinion or fact. These questions will be 20 in number, with the difficulty

increasing as the prompts progress. This is to instill not only the ability to differentiate fact from

fiction, but also to recognize use of descriptive words in informative, narrative, and persuasive

writing.

Students will be challenged to cite supporting statements in given short stories to identify

the main idea in a given sentence. This citing textual evidence plays into the main content

standard discussed in the unit. Given short paragraphs, they will be able to perform citing by

recreating the supporting sentences below the paragraph.

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Rubric for Map Making Project

1 Point 3 Points 5 PointsInformation Student does not

provide a map key, lines of latitude or longitude,

Student provides either a map key or 2 lines of latitude and longitude

Student provides both a map key and two lines of latitude and longitude

Neatness/Color Student’s map of city is disorganized, sloppy, and has no color

Student’s map is somewhat disorganized, somewhat neat, and has some color

Student’s map is organized well, is readable, and displays consistent use of color.

Grammar Student had multiple spelling and/or grammar errors within his/her rationale paper

Student has one or two errors in spelling and grammar within his/her rationale paper

Student has no errors in spelling and grammar within his/her rationale paper

Scale Less than half the items on map are not drawn to scale

At least half the items on the map are drawn to scale

All items on map are drawn to scale

Labels of Items Less than half of items on the map have labels

Over half of the items on the map are properly labeled

All of the items on the map are properly labeled

Map Scale No map scale is provided, or an unreasonable map scale is provided

A map scale is provided, but is somewhat off in scale relation

An accurate map scale is provided

Items Less than 7 items are provided on student’s map

Less than 12 items are provided on student’s map

Less than 17 items are provided on student’s map

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Past Content Connection

One of the most important things we considered when developing our two week unit was

whether or not we were actually building background knowledge. As you look over our unit you

will see a strong connection to the previous lessons displayed daily.

Within the area of mathematics we chose to focus on the idea of rates, ratios, and

proportions. Our first lesson touched on the big ideas the unit would cover in order to let the

students know what their lessons would entail. Also, Rates, Ratios, and Proportions: An

introduction to rates focused on the basic idea of rates and what they specifically were and how

to use them. This lesson would serve as a gateway into the introduction of ratios, which are first

explained in detail by Wednesday of the first week. Our mathematics content area will later ask

what the students can apply from their learning with the Cookin’ Up Rates and Ratios lesson.

After the solidifying lessons of When will I Use This and I Will Use This conclude our unit will

go into the basics of proportions, specifically how to set them up. Our conclusion is an

introduction to solving correctly set proportions and will end with a post-assessment, which will

test the knowledge built over the past two weeks.

As for the social studies aspect knowledge is gained over the course of the two week unit

that truly begins on the first day. Students’ minds will be filled with map knowledge in the

beginning with a review of the 5 elements of geography that had been touched on earlier in the

year as well as in 5th grade. Our unit will move toward more complex ideas of maps in the lesson

The Nitty Gritty of Latitude and Longitude, and proceeds to test the developing knowledge of our

students by means of the Cartographers Create Maps lessons. For this area we specifically

wanted students to move away from the idea of not being able to use social studies content in

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their lives and we were able to do this by a culminating activity on the final days where students

are able to reflect through presentations.

We wanted to make sure that we were not skimping on building content knowledge

during our unit and ELA was no exception to this idea. From the beginning we were able to take

the basic ideas of adjectives and descriptive words during our first day’s Vocabulary Lesson.

This would allow students to revisit the ideas that have been instilled in their minds years prior

and move on to practicing recognizing descriptive ideas gained during Creation Myths: The

beginning of geography. The idea behind this was giving students a warm-up lesson before

immersing them in the realm of descriptive language of ancient time. To challenge them further

our ELA unit would continue with asking them to create their own myth . As the unit progressed

students would be able to practice identifying textual information present in various works afer

being scaffold with easier works. The culmination of this content areas individual unit would

test, with balance, the information presented over the two week unit.

It is important to consider that pre-assessments were given the Friday before our unit

even began, which allowed our team to focus on key aspects and/or questions that needed to be

recognized before progressing in the unit. So, we were able to make modifications for our most

up to date lessons, which are presented in our curriculum map. Even when content knowledge

was not optimally built in progressing lessons our team was able to make modifications and

could have delayed activities if needed in order to promote a greater wealth for the immediate

content area.

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Statement of Technology

In this day and age it is nearly impossible to walk down out the door without seeing some

form of technology. Our society has grown accustomed to relying on technology in our daily

lives. With this in mind our team of teachers felt it imperative to use technology in the

classroom. However, the technology being used had to be relevant and meaningful so that

instruction may be supplemented rather than hindered.

During our integrated unit there are many forms of technology present in multiple lessons

even if not previously explicitly stated. One way that we had used technology in the majority of

our classes was by operation of a document camera. The multiple document cameras in our

classrooms allow our teams to simply hit a source button and slide a visual representation of an

item under the camera. By using the document camera students would be able to see a multitude

of other student’s work without having to pass his/her work around the room for all eyes to

briefly see. Instead the student would simply place the item under the camera and presto, the

student’s work was visible for all to see. It is important to consider that the teacher is easily able

to switch back and forth between computer and document camera as they are connected to one

another.

Another example of technology being used in a specific lesson would be through use of

the PowerPoint, which is a slide presentation software. The PowerPoints that we carefully

constructed to be direct and comical (for engagement) all at once had allowed us to turn a

primarily verbal lesson into something visual. A specific instance of this technology integration

can be found in The Different Types of Maps: An inquiry lesson. Remember that PowerPoints

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can be a great way to deliver information, but our teachers are discouraged from using them

repeatedly over a short time as the students may become bored of the format.

Not only does our team use technology for displaying materials and delivering content,

but we also use technology on an individual level. We are able to do this as our team has been

provided two-27 sets of Dell Laptops that are shared between our four teacher team. Students

need these laptops for a variety of materials, the first of which is to practice typing during free

periods otherwise known as Enrichment periods. Within our integrated unit students were able to

use the laptops in a couple of specific ways. First, when working on the Map Creation Projects

the students would be allowed to look up ideas for how to format their map as well as unique

traits to include. Another way students were able to use these laptops in the Map Creation Project

would be using Microsoft Word 2010 to type their supplemental writing prompt for the project.

Students would also be able to use the laptops to type out their own Create a Myth project

present in ELA.

In the end, we wanted our students to have as many technology resources at their disposal

for learning as possible. One of our goals for this unit was to have both teachers and students

using technology to enhance the learning process as well as to incorporate new technology skills

that could be transferred to everyday life outside of school.

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Statement of Integration

As we put this integrated unit together our team focused on integrating three major

subjects: mathematics, social studies, and English/language arts. As our lessons developed in this

unit it was not our goal to overload the students on the idea of Greek City-States rather to use it

as a gateway for acquiring knowledge in a unique way. As a result you will find that our lessons

do not constantly stress the theme of our unit each day. By doing so we were able to meet

standards in a unique fashion because all the teachers were able to hit the theme of Greek City-

States at the pace their content area allowed.

The majority of our language arts lessons were supplemented with readings of Greek

mythology that would serve as a lens at viewing the new major concepts. Recall that these major

concepts wee citing textual information within a variety of texts as well as comparing and

contrasting information and habits within a new text (Greek text). The information learned in this

content area will be utilized over the course of the students’ schooling, but was even displayed

proximity to the social studies project. This alignment occurred with the writing supplement of

the major social studies project found toward the end of our unit.

Integration of math was much more difficult to implement, but can be found

complimentary to the main concepts being studied within social studies: using geographic tools,

recognizing the different ways of charting an area, and the introduction to movement.

Geographic tools are crucial with the understanding rate of an object, which meant that

connections had to be made on both social studies and math standpoints. Also ratios were

stressed before and during the map creation project was taking place due to the fact that every

map made is a scale size of a larger area. For students to make this connection, emphasis from

both subject areas was a must because it stresses the idea of relevancy to everyday life.

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In summary, our integration of the subject areas and theme would give students a wider

view of the world and its past. The idea of integration was new to the students, who had up until

this point had a traditional schooling experience, and would allow for greater ideas to be formed

from the content areas with a real world connection.

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Applications of Standards with Regard to Ohio Education

From a non-educator’s standpoint it is all too easy to imagine teachers as those who are

simply to educate the student and afterward test them. However, truly capable teachers in the

state of Ohio reflect a series of ideals that may be connected to standards for the teacher. So,

teachers need to think critically in order to meet these standards and to integrate them within

their profession. We expected nothing less so listed below we have 12 of these standards ranging

over the course of 4 of 7 areas that teachers are expected to apply in their units constantly.

1. Teachers understand student learning and development and

respect the diversity of the students they teach…

1.1 Teachers display knowledge of how students learn and of the developmental

characteristics of age groups:

Within our integrated unit we continuously try to keep standard 1.1 in mind. We have

done this in a variety of ways, one of which is recognizing that our students were in 6th grade.

This meant that we would keep terms in all of our content areas developmentally appropriate and

we would keep the unit goals aligned to a 6th grade level. When you look at the standards our

units hit such as; rates, ratios, geographic tools, movement of ideas, etc., you will see that these

ideas were not pulled out of thin air. Instead they were aligned to Common Core State Standards

and Ohio Revised State Standards in the 6th grade level. You can reference The Amazing Greek

Race lesson (pg. 19) for an example of our grade level connections. By doing this we were able

to ensure that our students were learning appropriate grade level material, and made sure that it

was not too advanced or simply review of previous grades. We also spread out our lessons in

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each content area so that they build on one another. In our lessons you will not see questions that

immediately ask the concepts being presented such as: rate, ratio, comparison, etc. Instead one

would see a gradual development of the content that encourages students to construct their

knowledge with the assistance of information presented during each new lesson. To go even

deeper into this standard we have included various areas of differentiation in our lesson ranging

from simple extra time all the way to definition sheets and guide sheets.

1.2 Teachers understand what students know and are able to do and use this knowledge to

meet the needs of all students:

When we were taking the standards into consideration when creating our integrated unit

we realized that this standard was a necessity to allow our students to make new learning gains.

We were able to do this first by creating pre-assessments in each content area that focused on the

content to be taught. Theses pre-assessments were brief tests that would demonstrate what a

student already had sufficient knowledge of and what content still needed to be gone over in

detail. Having our pre-assessments completed before entering the integrated unit we as a team

knew what each student was capable of doing or had knowledge of. By doing this we were able

to provide a more reliable framework with detailed lessons that could engage all students each

day. Certain questions on pre-assessments that were missed gave the teacher an idea of how long

an area would need to be reviewed, or what questions were clearly easy for the students and

would not need as much instructional time. It is important to recognize that a wide variety of

more informal strategies were used to meet this standard such as: exit slips, questioning, thumbs

up/thumbs down, etc. A clear description of our pre-assessments may be found on pages 16-18

1.3 Teachers expect that all students will achieve to their full potential

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This standard was met in a variety of ways, some of which have been mentioned earlier,

and this is okay because “double-dipping” in practices to meet a variety of standards shows that

our team of teachers has clearly focused on more than just delivering and measuring content.

One way we expected students to achieve to their full potential was by challenging them in our

lessons. We challenged them by asking grade level questions that matched to grade level

standards. On top of this we asked for more than simple recall and procedural development

because we wanted the students to be able to do more. Specifically, we wanted to see the

application of knowledge in different areas. An example of this would be asking students to

create their own rate problems, or to solve for ratio problems and explain what the answers or

steps to a problem actually meant. Non-leading questions, or questions that don’t lead a student

to answer you want them to give, was a way we were able to implement this practice. Looking

at The Differnet Types of Maps: An inquiry lesson (pg. 27) can give insight as to the various

accommodations made through differentiation such as typed notes. Another way we were able to

meet this standard was by differentiating our lessons in some manner. Not every student has the

same cognitive capability, so it isn’t fair to give every student the same “cookie-cutter”

worksheet, questions, assistance, and so forth, in order to teach them a new idea. To reiterate we

made it so that our lessons challenged various students and/or groups of students that were at

different places in the learning process.

1.5 Teachers recognize characteristics of gifted students, students with disabilities, and

at-risk students in order to assist in appropriate identification, instruction, and intervention:

This standard is a simple must to be met in every unit of instruction, and our 2 week unit

was no exception. We were able to meet this standard primarily through differentiation of

lessons. Having prior knowledge of what our students knew and didn’t know as well as who

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knew a lot of the material and who did not our team would identify specific students and/or

groups of students that needed to be scaffolded, challenged, and questioned more, to meet their

learning needs. Many of the ideas of differentiation can be transferred to this one as well, like

differentiation, which was focused at recognizing the different students and what

needs/characteristics needed to be attended to. However, this standard is about recognizing

where each student was at in the learning process and how well they could learn material. So, we

would informally take data that had occurred prior to this unit to identify where students were in

general. Then we would use information taken from pre-assessments (pg. 16-18) and formative

assessments, which are described in our Two Week Calendar of Events (pg. 8-15) to paint a

picture of which student displayed what needs in the classroom.

2 Teachers know and understand the content area for which they

have instructional responsibility…

2.1 Teachers know the content they teach and use their knowledge of content-area

concepts, assumptions, and skills to plan instruction:

Planning for instruction is something that cannot be effectively done without the teacher

having knowledge of the content they teach. In our Two-Week Calendar of Events (pg. 8-15)

there is strong evidence as to how lessons build on each other. This is most blatantly obvious

when one looks over the series of math lessons, in which is the gradual unveiling of how rates,

and ratios tie together, and how the teaching of the concepts becomes gradually more in-depth.

When we were planning our lessons we knew that starting with the bare basics would be

appropriate and that constantly making informal assessments would help clarify needed

information (a major instructional and assessment strategy in education). To elaborate more on

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the integration of this standard, our math teacher knew that introducing ratios prior to rates

would prove to be confusing for the students as rates are easier to understand and the definition

leads into understanding a ratio as well as the difference between the two.

2.2 Teachers understand and use content-specific instructional strategies to effectively

teach the central concepts and skills of the discipline:

Although there are a variety of instructional strategies that can be universally used in

education some are better when utilized in specific content areas. What’s more is that these

strategies can be catered even more to the instruction of a specific content. We managed to show

this standard in our unit in a couple of ways. One way that this was done was by using an inquiry

lesson, specifically The Different Types of Maps lesson (pg. 27) to get the students thinking

about the various maps as well as the tools they possess. This inquiry lesson was clearly catered

to the teaching of geographic tools and was used to get the students questioning the various maps

and their uses. Our social studies teacher recognized that a lecture that included a PowerPoint

could have delivered the content just as easily, but he also recognized that this instructional

strategy would not be as effective in teaching the content.

2.3 Teachers understand school and district curriculum priorities and the Ohio academic

content standards:

When our team developed our integrated unit we needed to make sure that it wasn’t just

fluff for the students to learn. The unit needed to be related to both curriculum priorities and to

Ohio academic standards. Throughout our lesson plans we aligned our lessons to a variety of

meaningful academic standards, which included Common Core State Standards, for math and

English/language arts, and Ohio Revised Standards for Social Studies. A basic example of our

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relation to the academic standards can be found in the lesson “The Amazing Greek Race!” In this

lesson you will find two sets of standards aligned to two different content areas, which are math

and social studies. Though aligning your teaching to academic standards is important in the field

today it was not driving our curriculum. So, we kept in mind what overarching gains could be

made in relation to the curriculum our school had developed. In this curriculum our students are

expected to receive hands-on learning experiences with ties to the real-world. We believe that the

majority of our lessons keep these pillars in line, but two that specifically stand out would be the

two math lesson plans: When Will I Use This? (pg. 11) and I Will Use This! (pg. 12) in these

lessons we have attempted to make the content as relevant and meaningful to the students as

possible. Students were to realize just what was being done and where it could be applied in their

everyday lives.

2.5 Teachers connect content to relevant life experiences and career opportunities

As stated in the previous standard, our curriculum is not devoted to presenting content for

the sake of presenting content. We knew that there needed to be some way to make it

immediately relevant to the real world and relevant to the students themselves. As stated

previously we wanted to do this throughout our unit, but was most prominent when looking at

both the When Will I Use This? and I Will Use This! lesson plans. In these lesson plans we as

the teachers will present the content in a way that shows where it is commonly used and asked

students to make connections to their daily lives of when they or even their family has done so.

Another way that our unit exemplified this standard could be found in our The Different Types

of Maps lesson (pg. 27) where maps are discussed in detail as to who creates maps

(cartographers) and situations that the different types of maps are used in.

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3 Teachers understand and use varied assessments to inform

instruction, evaluate and ensure student learning…

3.1 Teachers understand and use varied assessments to inform instruction, evaluate and

ensure student learning:

Using the appropriate assessment for learning gains is not always easy and it is even

more difficult to vary these assessments. Within our integrated unit there were three main pre-

assessments given before the two week period and these assessments were simply tests that were

not to be taken for a grade. We recognized that one can’t simply give a student a test and hope to

understand what he/she knows because their knowledge is constantly changing. The tests we

gave were simply to gauge how well the student knew the content, so that we could plan our

lessons more accurately. Another type of assessment we would give was our exit slips, which

were passed out and collected at the end of the following lessons: Identifying Rates and Ratios

(pg. 8) and The Nitty Gritty of Latitude and Longitude (pg. 10). These exit slips were an easy

way to judge what the students were learning as they are simply passed out at the end of a period

and handed in as the students walk out the door. Exit slips can tell a teacher whether or not the

students are ready to move on to more complicated material and/or a new topic. Our team of

teachers is a big supporter of asking questions as a means of formative assessment. Within all of

our lessons our teachers are to ask different, non-leading questions that will actually engage the

learner and make them think. Asking questions may not be a formal type of assessment, but ti

would be more difficult to provide immediate feedback in a different manner. The last type of

assessment used in our integrated unit would be summative assessments. Summative assessments

are often referred to as assessments and they differ from formative assessments because they are

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no assessments for learning. Our summative assessments ended up being tests in language arts

and mathematics, plus a project in social studies. These summative assessments would lead us to

determine how much learning took place over the course of our two-week unit. We would use

these summative assessments to measure the progress of our students’ learning.

3.3 Teachers analyze data to monitor student learning progress and learning, and to plan,

differentiate and modify instruction:

Data analysis an effective means of determining how to improve future lessons through

various means such as: planning, differentiation, and modifications. Prior to, and during our

integrated unit, our team of teachers were hard at work collecting data of their students in order

to improve their instructional unit. One example of this can be found in our “Pre-Assessment”

section (pg. 16), in which a variety of pre-assessments were given in different areas to determine

where each individual student was starting out in the content unit. Our team focused on three

things: (1) identifying the students that were clearly lagging in the content area, (2) identifying

students that had strong knowledge of the content area, and (3) locating information that would

require, and/or not require extensive instructional time. These three focuses in the data collection

made it easy to better modify our unit’s schedule. Our team of teachers recognized that only

using pre-assessment tests to plan and differentiation would be unwise. So, we included a variety

of formative assessments within the unit that would include questioning in each one of our

lessons listed in our Two-Week Calendar of Events (pg. 8). To utilize more formal formative

assessments some of our lessons would utilize an exit slip to better understand what needed to be

hit on more or what misconceptions still needed to be clarified before moving on in the unit.

With each pre-assessment and formative assessment collected our data reservoirs increased and

would help us to better meet our students’ learning needs.

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4 Teachers plan and deliver effective instruction that advanes the

learning of each individual student…

4.1 Teachers align their instructional goals and activities with school and district

priorities and Ohio’s academic content standards:

This standard was one that was easy for our teachers to meet as all of our lessons had

instructional goals and activities that aligned to either school priorities and/or Ohio’s academic

content standards. One lesson that I believe would serve as a great example of this standard

would be The Different Types of Maps (pg. 27). This lesson meets a couple of state standards

including Places and Regions Content Statement 5 and Spatial Thinking and Skills Content

Statement 3. This shows how we aligned our lessons to meet academic standards, but in this

lesson you ca also find strong evidence of meeting our school’s goals. Our school emphasizes the

importance of relevancy with regard to the content, so our teachers wanted to make the lesson

get the students to recognize where maps are used in today’s world as well as who they can be

used by.

4.3 Teachers communicate clear learning goals and explicitly link learning activities to

those defined goals:

In our integrated unit every lesson that we used was allotted some learning goal, or learning

objective, and can be referenced in all of our detailed lesson plans, which begin on page 19. One

example that can be used as a reference is the lesson titled Creation Myth: The start of geography

(pg. 47). In this lesson we pose the learning goal of students being able to cite textual evidence

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and as such provided an activity sheet to meet this defined goal. Every lesson has an appropriate

learning goal and each of these learning goals would be supplemented with and activity and/or

sheet that could actually help the student meet these goals.

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Bibliography

A physical map of Greece (Online Image) Retrieved November 9, 2014from

http://liberapedia.wikia.com/wiki/Greece

“The Amazing Greek Race” lesson was inspired by “An Amazing Race” conducted by Terri

Corbett

Ancient Greek Culture (Online Image). Retrieved November 7, 2014 from

http://www.history4kids.co/2013/08/city-states-and-ancient-greek-culture.html

Australia’s Distribution of Raw Materials (Online Image). Retrieved November, 9, 2014 from

http://2012books.lardbucket.org/books/regional-geography-of-the-world-globalization-

people-and-places/s15-australia-and-new-zealand.html

Book of Greek Myths, Ingri & Edgar Parin D’aulaires, 1962 Doubleday & co.

Chinese Tales David K. Jordan, UCSD, 2007

Climate Zones (Online Image) Retrieved November 9, 2014 from

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate-guide/climate/zones

Creation Myths of the World, an Encyclopedia, David Adams Leeming, 2010, ABC CLIO, LLC

The Germanic Myth of Creation, Prof. Beverley Eddy, 1995, Dickinson College

Grand Conversations in Primary Classrooms, Capacity building series, Ref # 18, from the literacy and numeracy secretariat, April, 2011

The Grandfathers Speak, Hìtakonanu'laxk, New York : Interlink Books, 2005

History of the Peloponnesian War, Thucydides, trans. Rex Warner (London: Penguin, 1972),

Literacy in the Middle Grades: Teaching Reading and Writing to Fourth Through Eighth Graders Gail Tompkins,2009, Pearson.

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Political Maps (Online Image) Retrieved November 9, 2014 from http://studentweb.wilkes.edu/andrew.risser/FinalProjectRisser/Political%20Maps.html

World Map with Latitude and Longitude (Online Image). Retrieved November 9, 2014 from

http://www.lashworldtour.com/2013/10/viewing-the-northern-lights.html

Power point websites:

Beijing:

http://www.china.org.cn/top10/2012-05/29/content_25508382.htm

Istanbul: http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2011/sep/14/10-best-sights-istanbul-city-guide

Athens:

http://www.uenps2014.org/general-information/important-landmarks-and-sights-of-athens

Japan:

http://famouswonders.com/asia/japan/

New Zealand:

http://www.wondermondo.com/NewZealand.htm

Egypt:

http://www.touropia.com/top-attractions-in-egypt/

India: http://famouswonders.com/asia/india/

Indonesia: http://famouswonders.com/asia/indonesia/

http://www.timeforkids.com/around-the-world

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